Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Wellington Management Group LLP

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. by 4.5%, selling 201,907 shares, and now holds approximately 8.59% of the company valued at $378 million.
• Assured Guaranty reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.01 for the last quarter, significantly missing the consensus estimate of $1.57, although it experienced a revenue increase of 39.1% year over year.
• Recent analyst ratings for Assured Guaranty include a downgrade to “sell” from "hold" by Wall Street Zen and a price target adjustment by UBS Group to $92.00 with a "neutral" rating.

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,290,819 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 201,907 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 8.59% of Assured Guaranty worth $378,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AGO. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 554.2% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,544 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $136,000 after buying an additional 1,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth approximately $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO stock traded up $1.5330 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $82.4230. The company had a trading volume of 232,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 346,804. 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 quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $84.11 and a 200-day moving average of $85.61.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.56). Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The firm had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The company's revenue was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the company'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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 291,728 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,778,749.28. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AGO shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Profile

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.