Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 978,900 shares, a growth of 5.9% from the March 15th total of 924,700 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 369,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.
Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.5 %
NYSE AGO traded down $0.39 on Tuesday, reaching $78.44. The stock had a trading volume of 337,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 376,305. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.58. Assured Guaranty has a 12-month low of $49.84 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.32 and a beta of 1.12.
Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $4.57. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 53.82%. The business had revenue of $233.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $196.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given 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 1.43%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.00%.
Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty
In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total transaction of $5,083,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $134,099,662.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,561,000. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 547.9% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 642,449 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $38,881,000 after purchasing an additional 543,291 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,928,269 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $504,714,000 after purchasing an additional 410,594 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 102.8% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 380,816 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $21,246,000 after purchasing an additional 193,081 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 63.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 406,987 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $24,631,000 after purchasing an additional 158,638 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AGO shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $92.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, April 1st.
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About Assured Guaranty
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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.
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