Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Short Interest Up 7.2% in March

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 924,700 shares, an increase of 7.2% from the February 29th total of 862,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 328,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.8% of the company's shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.6 %

Assured Guaranty stock traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $85.00. The company had a trading volume of 597,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 365,386. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.85 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm's fifty day moving average is $86.64 and its 200-day moving average is $74.25. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $49.32 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $4.57. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 53.82% and a return on equity of 11.82%. The company had revenue of $233.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. Assured Guaranty's quarterly revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.00%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total value of $5,083,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,450,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,358 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 3,964 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 10,252 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $653,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,041 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $971,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 28.7% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,117 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Company 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.