7,590 Shares in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Bought by Invst LLC

Key Points

• Invst LLC has acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty Ltd., purchasing 7,590 shares valued at approximately $669,000 during the first quarter.
• Assured Guaranty's COO, Robert Bailenson, sold 40,000 shares for over $3.26 million, reducing his stake in the company by 12.06%.
• The company's stock has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion and recently reported earnings of $1.01 per share, missing analyst expectations of $1.57.

Invst LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $669,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth $293,632,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.8% in the first quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,134,810 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $99,977,000 after buying an additional 129,026 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.1% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,012,552 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $89,206,000 after purchasing an additional 109,282 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.1% during the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,000,760 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $88,167,000 after purchasing an additional 10,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 9.1% during 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.4%

AGO stock traded up $1.19 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $82.98. The company had a trading volume of 63,568 shares, compared to its average volume of 328,211. The company has a 50 day moving average of $82.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.41. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 0.91. 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.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is 15.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 291,728 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,778,749.28. The trade was a 12.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded 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 given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $98.50.

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.