Reinhart Partners LLC. Has $113.48 Million Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 11.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 132,351 shares during the period. Assured Guaranty accounts for 3.4% of Reinhart Partners LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Reinhart Partners LLC.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $113,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IMC Chicago LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at $1,446,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 156.4% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 49,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,743,000 after buying an additional 30,208 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 193,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,392,000 after buying an additional 13,575 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,929,000 after buying an additional 92,148 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $112,840,000 after buying an additional 144,841 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Francisco L. Borges sold 123,750 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.22, for a total transaction of $9,927,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 176,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,195,089.44. The trade was a 41.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total value of $3,931,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 256,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,146,453.62. This trade represents a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 224,797 shares of company stock valued at $17,999,537 over the last quarter. 5.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $74.04 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $73.27 and a 12 month high of $92.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 0.76.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The business had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.18 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 17.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AGO shares. UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Roth Mkm cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.33.

About Assured Guaranty

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.