River Road Asset Management LLC Grows Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

River Road Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,885,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 42,311 shares during the period. Assured Guaranty comprises approximately 1.9% of River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $169,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $68,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 99.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $76.58 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $72.76 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.79 and a beta of 0.76.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 17.45%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 29,998 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $2,442,137.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,264,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,926,255.95. The trade was a 2.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the sale, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 204,795 shares of company stock valued at $16,378,175 over the last quarter. 5.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Roth Mkm downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.33.

Assured Guaranty 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.