Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 59,909 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,881,000. Bank of Nova Scotia owned 0.14% of Assured Guaranty at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth $51,538,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 176.3% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 366,644 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,935,000 after purchasing an additional 233,966 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 261.9% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 142,761 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,830,000 after purchasing an additional 230,920 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 60.7% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 481,707 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $41,957,000 after buying an additional 182,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $113,480,000 after acquiring an additional 132,351 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts have recently commented on AGO shares. Weiss Ratings raised Assured Guaranty from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. UBS Group raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Assured Guaranty from $103.00 to $101.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Roth Capital lowered Assured Guaranty from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $91.67.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Assured Guaranty
Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.3%
NYSE:AGO opened at $85.14 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $79.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $72.76 and a 1-year high of $92.39.
Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.45% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The company's revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.18 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.45%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total value of $3,931,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 256,251 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,146,453.62. This represents a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the sale, the director owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company's stock.
Assured Guaranty Company Profile
(
Free Report)
Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company's primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.
In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.
Recommended Stories
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.
Before you consider Assured Guaranty, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Assured Guaranty wasn't on the list.
While Assured Guaranty currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Tesla, Nvidia, and Google helped shape the last era of market growth, but the next wave could come from a new group of companies. Inside this report, you’ll find 7 stocks that could play a major role in the next tech-driven market boom.
Get This Free Report
