Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Stake Boosted by Quantinno Capital Management LP

Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 32.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 499,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 123,672 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $40,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at $51,538,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 176.3% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 366,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,935,000 after purchasing an additional 233,966 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 261.9% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 142,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,830,000 after purchasing an additional 230,920 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 60.7% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 481,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,957,000 after buying an additional 182,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,480,000 after buying an additional 132,351 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $84.26 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $72.76 and a 52 week high of $92.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.67 and a beta of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.18 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGO has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $103.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Roth Capital downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total value of $3,931,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 256,251 shares in the company, valued at $20,146,453.62. This trade represents a 16.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 5.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.