M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 156.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,522 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 30,208 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp owned 0.11% of Assured Guaranty worth $4,743,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $112,840,000 after purchasing an additional 144,841 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $96,929,000 after purchasing an additional 92,148 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,035,827 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $87,683,000 after purchasing an additional 69,020 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 540,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $45,779,000 after buying an additional 108,280 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 511,950 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $43,337,000 after buying an additional 30,243 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
AGO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $98.50.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Assured Guaranty
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total transaction of $65,282.22. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,269,690 shares in the company, valued at $75,409,263.90. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Francisco L. Borges sold 123,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.22, for a total value of $9,927,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 176,952 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,195,089.44. The trade was a 41.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 179,768 shares of company stock worth $14,165,624. Insiders own 5.70% of the company's stock.
Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.0%
NYSE:AGO opened at $83.37 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.14 and a beta of 0.93. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $78.77 and a twelve month high of $92.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $83.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.
Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.78. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.31% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The company had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.83 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 77.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is currently 14.84%.
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.
Further Reading
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