Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 978,900 shares, an increase of 5.9% from the March 15th total of 924,700 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 369,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $77.10 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.71. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $49.84 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The company has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a PE ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 10.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price 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 restated a “market perform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, April 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AGO. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 226,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,935,000 after purchasing an additional 21,025 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 893,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,882,000 after purchasing an additional 67,613 shares during the period. Cambria Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. now owns 161,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,784,000 after buying an additional 12,621 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $174,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 273,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,546,000 after acquiring an additional 58,873 shares in 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.