Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Bought by Sciencast Management LP

Sciencast Management LP grew its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 133.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,073 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth about $1,141,000. Wealthstar Advisors LLC boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 279.2% during the first quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 15,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 11,358 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at $885,000. Symmetry Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at $908,000. Finally, Gendell Jeffrey L acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth $3,001,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Tuesday.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE AGO traded down $0.66 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $80.43. 355,393 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 405,404. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.21 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $77.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.73. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $55.24 and a 52-week high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.55. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 57.45%. The company had revenue of $245.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $194.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 9.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 3,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total transaction of $311,806.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 16,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,281,757.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total value of $3,124,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,410,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,213,570.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Laura Bieling sold 3,901 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $311,806.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 16,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,281,757.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 73,901 shares of company stock valued at $5,834,807. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The company offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments.