Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Short Interest Down 11.1% in July

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 769,600 shares, a decline of 11.1% from the July 15th total of 866,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 411,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total transaction of $3,124,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,213,570.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth about $235,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $957,000 after buying an additional 1,388 shares during the period. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth about $1,141,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 108,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,159 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth $66,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.4 %

AGO traded up $1.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $76.76. The stock had a trading volume of 234,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 396,356. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. Assured Guaranty has a twelve month low of $56.77 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The company has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 57.45%. The firm had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AGO shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.