WINTON GROUP Ltd Cuts Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

WINTON GROUP Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 88.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 64,952 shares during the quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1,080.6% in the 3rd 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. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 99.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE:AGO opened at $76.04 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 8.73 and a beta of 0.76. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $72.76 and a one year high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.45% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The company’s revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.18 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 17.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Roth Mkm cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total transaction of $3,931,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 256,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,146,453.62. The trade was a 16.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Francisco L. Borges sold 123,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.22, for a total transaction of $9,927,225.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 176,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,195,089.44. The trade was a 41.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 224,797 shares of company stock worth $17,999,537. Insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company 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.