6,836 Shares in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Acquired by MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC

MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $596,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth approximately $327,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 72.8% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 59,834 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,621,000 after buying an additional 25,204 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 63.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 406,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,631,000 after buying an additional 158,638 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 2.0% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 19,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,193,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth approximately $225,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:AGO opened at $77.77 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.11. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.44. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $54.30 and a 12-month high of $96.60.

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

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This is an increase 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 1.59%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 31st.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 30,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.94, for a total value of $2,398,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 304,835 shares in the company, valued at $24,368,509.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 30,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.94, for a total value of $2,398,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 304,835 shares in the company, valued at $24,368,509.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total value of $3,124,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at $110,213,570.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 73,901 shares of company stock worth $5,834,807 over the last three months. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.