Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 825,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 43,805 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $69,880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.0% during the 3rd 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. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AGO. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.00.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE:AGO opened at $85.82 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $74.09 and a 1-year high of $94.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of $88.32 and a 200 day moving average of $85.08. The firm has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 0.94.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $1.03. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.65% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The business had revenue of $207.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,269,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,409,263.90. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 10,803 shares of company stock worth $156,663 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.10% 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.