Ethic Inc. Raises Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. by 102.7% during the 1st quarter, acquiring an additional 3,660 shares to reach a total of 7,224 shares, valued at approximately $636,000.
• Assured Guaranty reported earnings per share of $1.01 for the most recent quarter, missing consensus estimates by $0.56, despite revenues increasing by 39.1% year-over-year.
• The firm announced a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.7%, with a payout ratio of 15.03%.

Ethic Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 102.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,224 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,660 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 27.6% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 554.2% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,544 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 1,308 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $218,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the business'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 transaction of $3,260,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 291,728 shares in the company, valued at $23,778,749.28. The trade was a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AGO. Zacks Research raised Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. One 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of AGO stock traded down $0.1450 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $80.9350. 21,235 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 330,025. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $84.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.41. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $74.09 and a 1-year high of $96.50. The company has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.93 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

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

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.