UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Takes $861,000 Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 9,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $861,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AGO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,609,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,308,000 after buying an additional 57,928 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 63.1% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 124,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,854,000 after buying an additional 48,125 shares during the period. Gendell Jeffrey L purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,001,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,818,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 2.2 %

AGO stock traded up $1.76 during trading on Thursday, hitting $82.20. 11,216 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 400,220. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.21 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $56.77 and a 52-week high of $96.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its earnings results 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. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 57.45%. The firm had revenue of $245.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $194.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 9.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 3,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $311,806.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 16,036 shares in the company, valued at $1,281,757.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 30,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Laura Bieling sold 3,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $311,806.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 16,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,281,757.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 73,901 shares of company stock worth $5,834,807. 5.10% of the stock is owned by 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.