Short Interest in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Decreases By 25.7%

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 948,692 shares, a decline of 25.7% from the December 15th total of 1,277,061 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 412,203 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 2.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Currently, 2.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 412,203 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AGO. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Zacks Research raised Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.00.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 3,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.72, for a total value of $55,671.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,276,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,668,195.84. The trade was a 0.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,437 shares of company stock valued at $129,237. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth about $30,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 3,391.7% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of AGO traded down $0.61 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $84.95. The stock had a trading volume of 286,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 322,840. Assured Guaranty has a 12 month low of $74.09 and a 12 month high of $96.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $207.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.76 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.65% and a return on equity of 7.09%. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was down 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 16.87%.

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.