Invesco Ltd. Sells 141,036 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. reduced its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. by 30.7%, now holding approximately 0.64% of the company with 318,435 shares valued at $28 million.
• Assured Guaranty recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.34, indicating a yield of 1.7%, with a payout ratio of 15.03% as of the latest disclosures.
• The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.01 for the last quarter, missing analysts' expectations of $1.57, although revenue increased by 39.1% year-over-year.

Invesco Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 30.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 318,435 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 141,036 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.64% of Assured Guaranty worth $28,054,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 27.6% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth $97,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth $104,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 554.2% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,544 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 1,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth $218,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 291,728 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,778,749.28. This trade represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AGO shares. Zacks Research upgraded Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:AGO traded down $1.2760 on Monday, reaching $81.2340. 405,260 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 347,442. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $84.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.41. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $74.09 and a 52 week high of $96.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.98 and a beta of 0.88. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.56). Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The company had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.91 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

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

Assured Guaranty 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.