Cambria Investment Management L.P. Sells 8,075 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Cambria Investment Management L.P. lowered its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 114,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,075 shares during the quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $9,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MAI Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 17.8% during the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.6% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 37.0% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 6.3% in the third quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.00.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $82.50 on Thursday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $74.09 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.74. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 8.06 and a beta of 0.90. 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) last released its 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. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.31% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The firm had revenue of $277.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider directly owned 5,269,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,409,263.90. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,000.58. The trade was a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 11,920 shares of company stock worth $261,214 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.