Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Major Shareholder Purchases $5,999,988.96 in Stock

Key Points

• Major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 242,718 shares at an average of $24.72 (totaling $5,999,988.96), increasing its stake to 1,002,718 shares — a 31.94% rise — in a transaction disclosed on an SEC Form 4.
• Assured Guaranty posted a strong quarter with $2.32 EPS (vs. $1.54 consensus) and revenue up 77.6% year-over-year, and it recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 (annualized $1.52, yield ~1.9%).

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 242,718 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.72 per share, for a total transaction of $5,999,988.96. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,002,718 shares in the company, valued at $24,787,188.96. This trade represents a 31.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company's stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO traded up $0.33 during trading on Thursday, hitting $82.02. 289,136 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 326,567. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $83.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.57. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.01 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $78.77 and a 12-month high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.78. The business had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.27 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.85 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is presently 14.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 218.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 162,615 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $13,765,000 after buying an additional 111,498 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 92,148 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $112,840,000 after buying an additional 144,841 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 156.4% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 49,522 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,743,000 after buying an additional 30,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 204.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,135 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,820,000 after buying an additional 22,924 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. Wall Street Zen lowered Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Assured Guaranty from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $98.50.

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.

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