Lorin Radtke Sells 1,047 Shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Stock

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $691,696.24. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Lorin Radtke also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 4th, Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of Assured Guaranty stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total transaction of $106,223.66.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.1%

AGO stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Monday, reaching $74.15. The stock had a trading volume of 416,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 345,853. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $73.46 and a one year high of $92.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company’s 50 day moving average is $80.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 0.76.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.45% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.18 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 61.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,198,000 after buying an additional 22,486 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,024,000 after buying an additional 16,235 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 99.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter valued at $553,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. 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 cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Roth Mkm cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.33.

About Assured Guaranty

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.