72,122 Shares in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Bought by SG Americas Securities LLC

Key Points

• SG Americas Securities LLC opened a new position of 72,122 shares in Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO), valued at about $6.48M, and institutional investors now own roughly 92.22% of the company.
• Assured Guaranty posted a strong quarter—EPS $2.32 vs $1.54 expected and revenue $277M vs $205.8M expected, up 77.6% YoY—and analysts have an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $98.50 target.
• The board raised the quarterly dividend to $0.38 ($1.52 annualized, 1.9% yield), while insiders have sold about 61,920 shares over the past three months, including the CEO's sale of 29,998 shares.

SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 72,122 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,482,000. SG Americas Securities LLC owned 0.16% of Assured Guaranty as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 61.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,010 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,198,000 after purchasing an additional 22,486 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,638 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $21,024,000 after buying an additional 16,235 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 43.4% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 170,242 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,828,000 after buying an additional 51,519 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,585,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AGO. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.4%

AGO opened at $81.56 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $84.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.96 and a beta of 0.90. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $74.09 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.78. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.31% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The business had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is 14.84%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 29,998 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $2,442,137.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,264,295 shares of the company's stock, valued at $102,926,255.95. This represents a 2.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total value of $65,282.22. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,269,690 shares in the company, valued at $75,409,263.90. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 61,920 shares of company stock worth $4,324,713 over the last three months. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty 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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