Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC decreased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,628 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $959,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 27.6% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at about $104,000. State of Wyoming increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 583.3% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 554.2% during the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Summit Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth about $203,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.8%

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $83.94 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.28 and a beta of 0.92. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $74.09 and a 1 year high of $96.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $82.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.56). The company had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.91 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. Assured Guaranty’s revenue was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 15.03%.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total value of $3,260,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 291,728 shares in the company, valued at $23,778,749.28. This trade represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 25,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $2,095,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,287,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $107,956,525.49. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group cut their target price on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.50.

About Assured Guaranty

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.