Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares to Pay Quarterly Dividend of $0.38

Key Points

• Assured Guaranty declared a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, payable December 2 to shareholders of record November 18. The annualized dividend is $1.52, yielding about 2.1%.
• The dividend appears well covered: the current payout ratio is 21.4%, and analysts expect next year’s earnings to support a payout ratio of about 24%. The company has increased its dividend for seven consecutive years.
• AGO shares rose 1.7% to $72.50 in Wednesday’s trading. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s shares.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 18th.

Assured Guaranty has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 7 years. Assured Guaranty has a dividend payout ratio of 21.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Assured Guaranty to earn $6.33 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.0%.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 1.7%

AGO traded up $1.21 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $72.50. The stock had a trading volume of 303,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 373,920. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $71.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.67 and a beta of 0.65. Assured Guaranty has a 52 week low of $67.24 and a 52 week high of $92.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.64.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 37.34%. The company had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter. On average, equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AGO. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter valued at $463,926,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth about $30,108,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at about $23,025,000. Man Group plc acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at about $13,439,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 32.9% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 499,347 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $40,687,000 after acquiring an additional 123,672 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd. NYSE: AGO is a Bermuda-based financial services company that provides credit protection products through its operating insurance subsidiaries. The company's core business is financial guaranty insurance, which generally guarantees the payment of scheduled principal and interest on debt obligations if the issuer or borrower defaults.

Assured Guaranty primarily serves the public finance and infrastructure markets. Its guarantees support municipal bonds and other public-sector debt, as well as obligations related to transportation, utilities, social infrastructure and other essential-service projects.

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