Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC Takes $267,000 Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 3,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,609,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 893,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,882,000 after acquiring an additional 67,613 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 27.4% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 273,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,546,000 after acquiring an additional 58,873 shares in the last quarter. Gendell Jeffrey L bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at $3,001,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth $2,035,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective 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.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE AGO opened at $77.28 on Wednesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $54.30 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.52. 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 cap of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.97 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $245.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $194.78 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 57.45%. The firm’s revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.45 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 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.