Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Trims Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Key Points

• Robeco trimmed its stake: Robeco Institutional Asset Management cut its position in Assured Guaranty by 12.3% in Q4, selling 13,655 shares and retaining 97,115 shares worth about $8.73 million (≈0.21% of the company).
• Strong earnings and dividend hike: Assured Guaranty beat Q results with $2.32 EPS (vs. $1.54 est.) and revenue up 77.6% to $277M, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 ($1.52 annual, ~1.8% yield).
• High institutional ownership and insider selling: Hedge funds/institutions hold about 92.22% of the stock while insiders sold roughly 180,073 shares (~$14.17M) in the past three months; analysts' consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with a $98.50 average target.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. trimmed its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 97,115 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 13,655 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned about 0.21% of Assured Guaranty worth $8,728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oak Thistle LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 174.1% in the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 19,857 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,785,000 after purchasing an additional 12,613 shares during the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,598 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,513 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 28,058 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,522,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth about $6,482,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.3%

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $83.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.16 and a beta of 0.93. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $78.77 and a 52 week high of $92.39. The business's 50-day moving average price is $84.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $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 earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.78. The firm had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.Assured Guaranty's revenue for the quarter was up 77.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is 14.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 5,269,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at $75,409,263.90. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Francisco L. Borges sold 123,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.22, for a total value of $9,927,225.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 176,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,195,089.44. This trade represents a 41.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 180,073 shares of company stock valued at $14,169,982 in the last three months. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Profile

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.

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