Rhumbline Advisers Has $10.01 Million Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Key Points

• Rhumbline Advisers has decreased its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. by 4.8%, selling 5,718 shares, and now holds approximately 0.23% of the company valued at $10 million.
• Assured Guaranty reported a quarterly earnings miss with an EPS of $1.01, falling short of analyst expectations of $1.57, despite revenues increasing by 39.1% year-over-year.
• The company announced a dividend of $0.34 per share, reflecting an annual yield of 1.7%, with a low payout ratio of 15.03%.

Rhumbline Advisers lessened its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,647 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 5,718 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.23% of Assured Guaranty worth $10,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,106 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 360,667 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $32,464,000 after purchasing an additional 6,978 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 63.2% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,760 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 2,231 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth about $254,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:AGO traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $82.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 264,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 296,017. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 0.91. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $74.09 and a twelve month high of $96.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $82.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.56.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.56). The firm had revenue of $281.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.91 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is currently 15.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total value of $3,260,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 291,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,778,749.28. The trade was a 12.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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

Several brokerages recently commented on AGO. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Zacks Research upgraded Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.50.

About Assured Guaranty

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.