Legal & General Group Plc Takes Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 97,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,838,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AGO. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 309.2% in the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AGO shares. UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Roth Capital downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,096,591.98. This trade represents a 20.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 5.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE AGO opened at $74.50 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $72.76 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $80.23 and a 200-day moving average of $80.70. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 0.73.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 37.34%. As a group, analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

About Assured Guaranty

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.