9,868 Shares in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Bought by UniSuper Management Pty Ltd

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 9,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $861,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth $1,141,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,308,000 after purchasing an additional 57,928 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 279.2% in 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 during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the first quarter valued at $885,000. Finally, Symmetry Partners LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the first quarter valued at $908,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Laura Bieling sold 3,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,281,757.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 73,901 shares of company stock worth $5,834,807. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 2.2 %

AGO stock traded up $1.76 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $82.20. 11,216 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 400,220. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 6.21 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $56.77 and a one year high of $96.60.

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

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.58%.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.