US Bancorp DE Sells 539 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

US Bancorp DE reduced its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 539 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $804,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 27.6% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth $104,000. State of Wyoming increased its position 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 worth $134,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position 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 worth $136,000 after buying an additional 1,308 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth $203,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research raised Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total value of $2,095,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,287,803 shares in the company, valued at $107,956,525.49. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 6,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.90, for a total value of $105,760.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,282,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,282,598.60. The trade was a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 79,089 shares of company stock worth $5,599,792 in the last ninety days. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $80.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a PE ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $82.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $74.09 and a 1 year high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.56). Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The firm had revenue of $281.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.03%.

Assured Guaranty 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.