Reinhart Partners LLC. Grows Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Key Points

• Reinhart Partners LLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. by 0.3%, owning approximately 1.14 million shares, which makes up 3.4% of its portfolio.
• Assured Guaranty reported earnings of $1.01 per share, missing analysts' expectations of $1.57, although it achieved a 39.1% increase in quarterly revenue compared to the previous year.
• Insider trading activity included COO Robert Bailenson selling 40,000 shares at an average price of $81.51, reducing his ownership by 12.06%.

Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,138,398 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,588 shares during the quarter. Assured Guaranty makes up 3.4% of Reinhart Partners LLC.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Reinhart Partners LLC. owned 2.32% of Assured Guaranty worth $99,156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 27.6% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth $97,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at $104,000. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 583.3% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,517 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 554.2% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,544 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 1,308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on 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, Wall Street Zen cut Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $98.50.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the company'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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 291,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,778,749.28. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO traded up $1.22 on Thursday, hitting $83.01. 295,295 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 295,696. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $82.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.37. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $74.09 and a twelve month high of $96.50. The firm has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.91 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.03%.

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.