Reinhart Partners LLC. Purchases 3,588 Shares of 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. lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,138,398 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,588 shares during the period. Assured Guaranty comprises about 3.4% of Reinhart Partners LLC.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Reinhart Partners LLC. owned 2.32% of Assured Guaranty worth $99,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research raised Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 12.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Assured Guaranty stock traded up $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $83.64. 1,072,862 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 292,694. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.33. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $74.09 and a 12 month high of $96.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted 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 the consensus estimate of $203.91 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.18% and a net margin of 44.53%.Assured Guaranty's revenue was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.