Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Ieq Capital LLC

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC has significantly decreased its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. by 55.3%, now holding 17,077 shares worth approximately $1.5 million.
• Several other hedge funds have also adjusted their positions, with Farther Finance Advisors LLC increasing their stake by an impressive 554.2% in the same quarter.
• Assured Guaranty reported a quarterly EPS of $1.01, missing analysts' expectations, despite a 39.1% year-over-year increase in revenue to $281 million.

Ieq Capital LLC trimmed its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 55.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,077 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 21,136 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC's holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Freedom Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,781 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at $203,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at $205,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 479.3% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 41,032 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,607,000 after purchasing an additional 33,949 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 9.1% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 581,921 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $51,267,000 after purchasing an additional 48,631 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $98.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the business's 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. The trade was a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock traded down $0.87 on Friday, reaching $82.17. 383,959 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 329,138. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $74.09 and a 1-year 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a PE ratio of 9.08 and a beta of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company 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%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is currently 15.03%.

Assured Guaranty Company 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.