Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Purchased by Northern Trust Corp

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. by 9.1%, now owning about 1.17% of the company valued at approximately $51.27 million.
• Assured Guaranty reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.01, missing estimates by $0.56, while revenue increased significantly by 39.1% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.34, to be paid on September 3rd, representing an annual yield of 1.7%.

Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 581,921 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 48,631 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.17% of Assured Guaranty worth $51,267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,012,552 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $89,206,000 after purchasing an additional 109,282 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 102.7% during the 1st quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 7,224 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 3,660 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 136,819 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $12,054,000 after purchasing an additional 17,373 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 47.9% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 176,354 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $15,537,000 after purchasing an additional 57,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at $293,632,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGO has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $98.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total transaction of $3,260,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 291,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,778,749.28. This trade represents a 12.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO traded down $0.98 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $81.22. 303,675 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 351,696. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $83.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.05. The stock has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.97 and a beta of 0.91. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $74.09 and a 12-month high of $96.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.56). The company had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $203.91 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.03%.

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.