Insider Selling: Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Director Sells 1,047 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Insider sale: Assured Guaranty director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares on May 29 at an average price of $74.32, totaling about $77,813. After the sale, he still held 9,307 shares.
• Stock and earnings update: AGO shares were down slightly to $74.15, near their 52-week low, even after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $2.50 per share and revenue of $261 million.
• Dividend and analyst sentiment: The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, and analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average target price of $92.33.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% 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 link.

Lorin Radtke also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 4th, Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total transaction of $106,223.66.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $74.15. 416,233 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 345,853. The company has a 50 day moving average of $80.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.00. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $73.46 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 0.76.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.45% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The company had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.18 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Roth Mkm downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $92.33.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,441 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,111 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,030 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, Prelude Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 6.3% during the third quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Company 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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