Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC

Key Points

• Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC has reduced its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. by 28.5%, now owning 164,818 shares valued at approximately $14.5 million.
• Assured Guaranty reported $1.01 earnings per share, missing analysts' expectations and showed a 39.1% increase in revenue compared to the same quarter last year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.34, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 1.7%.

Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC decreased its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 28.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 164,818 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 65,731 shares during the period. Assured Guaranty makes up about 2.8% of Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC owned approximately 0.34% of Assured Guaranty worth $14,520,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at $293,632,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 8,932.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 240,161 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $211,580,000 after buying an additional 237,502 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,134,810 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $99,977,000 after buying an additional 129,026 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 109,282 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at $5,920,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE AGO traded up $0.67 on Thursday, hitting $82.42. The stock had a trading volume of 81,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 329,157. The business's fifty day moving average price is $82.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $74.09 and a 52-week high of $96.50. The stock has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were 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 $23,778,749.28. This trade represents a 12.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.