UBS Group AG Sells 84,086 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

UBS Group AG decreased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 31.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 185,125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 84,086 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG owned about 0.40% of Assured Guaranty worth $16,637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $112,840,000 after acquiring an additional 144,841 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,929,000 after acquiring an additional 92,148 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,035,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,683,000 after purchasing an additional 69,020 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 540,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,779,000 after purchasing an additional 108,280 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 511,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,337,000 after purchasing an additional 30,243 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of AGO opened at $77.01 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $82.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.57. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $74.18 and a twelve month high of $92.39. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a PE ratio of 8.84 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The firm had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Roth Mkm cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,000.58. This represents a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 29,998 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $2,442,137.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,264,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,926,255.95. This trade represents a 2.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 224,969 shares of company stock valued at $18,027,948 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

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.