Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Short Interest Update

by · The Cerbat Gem

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO – Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 948,692 shares, a drop of 25.7% from the December 15th total of 1,277,061 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 412,203 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 412,203 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two investment 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.00.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Assured Guaranty

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 3,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.72, for a total transaction of $55,671.04. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,276,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,668,195.84. This represents a 0.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,437 shares of company stock valued at $129,237. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AGO. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.9% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 7,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $629,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $500,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.6% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.1% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 7,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $680,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.7%

Assured Guaranty stock traded down $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $84.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 286,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 322,840. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50 day moving average of $89.23 and a 200-day moving average of $85.04. Assured Guaranty has a one year low of $74.09 and a one year high of $96.50. The stock has a market cap of $3.92 billion, a PE ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $207.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.76 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 40.65%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

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

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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