Bridgefront Capital LLC Buys Shares of 6,032 Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $511,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 3,391.7% during the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth about $47,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 37.0% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1,080.6% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. UBS Group raised their price target on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.00.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,297 shares in the company, valued at $723,000.58. This trade represents a 12.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total value of $65,282.22. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,269,690 shares in the company, valued at $75,409,263.90. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,920 shares of company stock worth $261,214. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.2%

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $83.56 on Tuesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $74.09 and a 52-week high of $92.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.16 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $86.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.78. The company had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.31% and a return on equity of 7.77%. Assured Guaranty’s revenue was up 77.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.84%.

Assured Guaranty Profile

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.