Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Trading Down 5.8% Following Weak Earnings

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) traded down 5.8% during trading on Friday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as low as $77.51 and last traded at $77.8060. Approximately 38,282 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 346,722 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.57.

The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.45% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The company had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 17.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on AGO shares. Roth Capital lowered Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $103.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.67.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at $691,696.24. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,096,591.98. This represents a 20.88% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 5.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 61.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,198,000 after buying an additional 22,486 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,024,000 after purchasing an additional 16,235 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 99.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth $553,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $80.33 and a 200 day moving average of $81.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.89 and a beta of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.