Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. by 3.7%, now holding 136,566 shares valued at approximately $12 million.
• Assured Guaranty recently reported a quarterly EPS of $1.01, missing analysts' estimates of $1.57, despite a 39.1% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.7%, payable on September 3rd.

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 136,566 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 5,310 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.27% of Assured Guaranty worth $12,031,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at $1,305,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 79,865 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,036,000 after buying an additional 5,826 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 70,622 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,222,000 after purchasing an additional 20,779 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth $624,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 7.0% during 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 in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 291,728 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,778,749.28. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE AGO traded up $1.2280 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $82.1180. The stock had a trading volume of 48,603 shares, compared to its average volume of 330,364. The firm's 50 day moving average is $84.15 and its 200 day moving average is $85.68. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.09 and a beta of 0.88. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $74.09 and a twelve month high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released 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). The business had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $203.91 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.18% and a net margin of 44.53%.Assured Guaranty's quarterly revenue was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is currently 15.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AGO. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a research report 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, 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.