Man Group plc Invests $13.44 Million in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Man Group plc bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 167,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,439,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 309.2% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $75.94 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $72.76 and a one year high of $92.39. The company has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $80.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.94.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The business had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. On average, analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on AGO. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Roth Capital cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.33.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,096,591.98. This represents a 20.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

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.