Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 242,718 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $24.72 per share, for a total transaction of $5,999,988.96. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,002,718 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,787,188.96. This represents a 31.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company's shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.
Assured Guaranty Price Performance
NYSE AGO opened at $82.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.01 and a beta of 0.93. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $78.77 and a 1 year high of $92.39. The business's fifty day moving average is $83.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.57. 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 (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.78. The company had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.The firm's revenue was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is currently 14.84%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research analysts have issued reports on AGO shares. Weiss Ratings raised Assured Guaranty from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $98.50.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on AGO
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.6% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,856 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,441 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,111 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Assured Guaranty
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Get Free Report)
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.
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