Rhumbline Advisers Sells 5,718 Shares of 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 decreased its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure 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 period. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.23% of Assured Guaranty worth $10,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,106 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 360,667 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,464,000 after acquiring an additional 6,978 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 63.2% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,760 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $518,000 after acquiring an additional 2,231 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at about $254,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 1.4%

Assured Guaranty stock traded down $1.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $80.33. The stock had a trading volume of 103,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 328,346. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $82.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.46. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $74.09 and a 1-year high of $96.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $281.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on AGO. Wall Street Zen lowered Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group cut their target price on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $98.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 291,728 shares in the company, valued at $23,778,749.28. This trade represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.