Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in Assured Guaranty by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 24,321 shares and leaving it with about 112,199 shares valued at roughly $10.1 million.
• Several insiders sold shares recently, including CEO Dominic Frederico and Director Lorin Radtke, with insiders selling 224,797 shares worth about $18.0 million over the last 90 days.
• Assured Guaranty reported strong quarterly earnings, posting $2.50 EPS versus $1.50 expected, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with an average price target of $92.33.

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 17.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 112,199 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 24,321 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.24% of Assured Guaranty worth $10,083,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 633.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 1,080.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 732 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $68,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 99.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 29,998 shares of the business'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 value of $2,442,137.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,264,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,926,255.95. The trade was a 2.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company's stock, valued at $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 224,797 shares of company stock worth $17,999,537. Corporate insiders own 5.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Roth Mkm downgraded Assured Guaranty from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.33.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $74.00 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $72.76 and a twelve month high of $92.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.61.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The business had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.18 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is 17.45%.

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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