Corient Private Wealth LP Purchases Shares of 18,806 Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 18,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth about $463,926,000. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,885,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $169,483,000 after buying an additional 42,311 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,464,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $131,589,000 after buying an additional 131,195 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,480,000 after buying an additional 132,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,538,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE AGO opened at $75.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $72.76 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $80.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.54. The stock has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a PE ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 0.73.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The company had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,096,591.98. This represents a 20.88% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 5.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About Assured Guaranty

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.