Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys 33,949 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings PLC significantly increased its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. by 479.3% in the first quarter, owning approximately $3.61 million worth of shares.
• A recent assessment by analysts revealed mixed ratings for Assured Guaranty, including a downgrade to "sell" from Wall Street Zen and a price target reduction by UBS Group, which now stands at $92.00.
• Assured Guaranty announced a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share with an annualized yield of 1.7%, reflecting a payout ratio of 15.03%.

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 479.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,032 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 33,949 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.08% of Assured Guaranty worth $3,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AGO. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 131.2% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,419 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 3,075 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 33,810 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,044,000 after acquiring an additional 2,117 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 533,290 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,001,000 after purchasing an additional 63,375 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,622 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $89,796,000 after purchasing an additional 13,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,106 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO traded up $0.20 during trading on Monday, hitting $82.10. The stock had a trading volume of 299,670 shares, compared to its average volume of 363,720. The firm has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a PE ratio of 9.07 and a beta of 0.91. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $74.09 and a 12 month high of $96.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.08.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

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 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty 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 value of $3,260,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 291,728 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,778,749.28. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AGO. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $98.50.

About Assured Guaranty

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.