Allianz Asset Management GmbH Decreases Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Allianz Asset Management GmbH reduced its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 33.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 391,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 192,835 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $34,087,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 27.6% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AGO shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 6,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.90, for a total transaction of $105,760.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,282,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,282,598.60. This trade represents a 0.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total transaction of $3,260,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 291,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,778,749.28. The trade was a 12.06% 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 valued at $5,599,792 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $80.18 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $74.09 and a 12-month high of $96.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $82.28 and its two-hundred day moving average 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 (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 7.18% and a net margin of 44.53%.The firm had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.