Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by PEAK6 LLC

Key Points

• PEAK6 LLC reduced its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. by 43.4%, selling 7,080 shares and leaving it with 9,251 shares valued at $815,000.
• Assured Guaranty reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.01, missing estimates and showing a significant year-over-year revenue growth of 39.1%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.7%, to be paid to investors on September 3rd.

PEAK6 LLC cut its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 43.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,251 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,080 shares during the period. PEAK6 LLC's holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at $1,305,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 79,865 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,036,000 after acquiring an additional 5,826 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 70,622 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,222,000 after acquiring an additional 20,779 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at about $624,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.8%

AGO traded up $0.62 on Thursday, reaching $82.37. 83,762 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 330,227. The company's 50 day moving average is $83.45 and its 200-day moving average is $85.03. The company has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10 and a beta of 0.91. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $74.09 and a twelve month high of $96.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.91 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 291,728 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,778,749.28. This trade represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.