First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 144,841 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 2.80% of Assured Guaranty worth $112,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AGO. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 61.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,198,000 after purchasing an additional 22,486 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 7.3% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,024,000 after purchasing an additional 16,235 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 13.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 90,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,894,000 after purchasing an additional 10,762 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.9% during the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 7,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $629,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth $247,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,000.58. This trade represents a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total value of $65,282.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,269,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,409,263.90. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 11,920 shares of company stock worth $261,214 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on AGO shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.00.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $85.44 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 0.90. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $74.09 and a 1 year high of $92.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.78. The business had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.31% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 14.84%.

Assured Guaranty Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.