Fox Run Management L.L.C. Acquires New Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 12,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,121,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AGO. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $513,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Choreo LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.2% in the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.9% during the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 7,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $629,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 2.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 27.6% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 6,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.90, for a total value of $105,760.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,282,994 shares in the company, valued at $89,282,598.60. This trade represents a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total value of $3,260,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 291,728 shares in the company, valued at $23,778,749.28. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 81,827 shares of company stock valued at $5,645,401. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $86.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $82.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $74.09 and a 1 year high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $206.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.76 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 19th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 16.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AGO shares. Zacks Research raised Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The company offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments.