Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) CEO Dominic Frederico Sells 20,002 Shares

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) CEO Dominic Frederico sold 20,002 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.06, for a total transaction of $1,621,362.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,294,293 shares in the company, valued at $104,915,390.58. This represents a 1.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $81.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.96 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $85.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $74.09 and a 52-week high of $92.39.

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

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3,391.7% in the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Company 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.