Short Interest in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Increases By 5.9%

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 978,900 shares, a growth of 5.9% from the March 15th total of 924,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 369,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days. Currently, 1.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, April 1st.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $78.42. 337,136 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 485,389. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $86.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.33 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. Assured Guaranty has a one year low of $49.84 and a one year high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $4.57. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 53.82%. The firm had revenue of $233.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.00%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total value of $5,083,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 226,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,935,000 after purchasing an additional 21,025 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 893,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,882,000 after purchasing an additional 67,613 shares during the period. Cambria Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. now owns 161,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,784,000 after purchasing an additional 12,621 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth $174,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 273,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,546,000 after buying an additional 58,873 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.