First Trust Advisors LP Has $110.54 Million Stock Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,356,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 107,584 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $110,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 99.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AGO. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Roth Capital lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $103.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 256,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,146,453.62. This represents a 16.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE AGO opened at $84.41 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $78.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.24. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $72.76 and a 52-week high of $92.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.69 and a beta of 0.75.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.45% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The business had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 17.45%.

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.