Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Sold by Putnam Investments LLC

Putnam Investments LLC reduced its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,159,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 185,698 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC owned approximately 9.01% of Assured Guaranty worth $386,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 893,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,882,000 after buying an additional 67,613 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth $41,609,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 407,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,476,000 after acquiring an additional 4,699 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 63.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 406,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,631,000 after acquiring an additional 158,638 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 273,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,546,000 after purchasing an additional 58,873 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 31st.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 30,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.94, for a total transaction of $2,398,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 304,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,368,509.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total value of $5,083,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 304,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,368,509.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 88,901 shares of company stock valued at $7,793,657 over the last three months. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock traded down $1.50 on Tuesday, hitting $73.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 152,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 386,466. The company has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.10. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $52.99 and a 52-week high of $96.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $78.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.55. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 57.45% and a return on equity of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $245.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $194.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.58%.

About Assured Guaranty

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.