Boston Partners Sells 6,252 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Key Points

• Boston Partners reduced its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 0.8%, owning about 800,569 shares worth $70 million after selling 6,252 shares in Q1.
• Assured Guaranty reported $1.01 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing estimates by $0.56, but saw a 39.1% year-over-year revenue increase to $281 million.
• Insider trades included a significant sale by CEO Dominic Frederico, who sold 71,917 shares, reducing his position by 5.06%.

Boston Partners trimmed its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 800,569 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 6,252 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned approximately 1.60% of Assured Guaranty worth $70,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AGO. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 27.6% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $136,000 after buying an additional 1,308 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at approximately $218,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.7%

AGO traded down $0.5630 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $81.0870. The stock had a trading volume of 268,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 343,524. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $84.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.76. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96 and a beta of 0.88. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $74.09 and a 1-year high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). 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 analyst estimates of $203.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total transaction of $3,260,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 291,728 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,778,749.28. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $98.50.

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.