Short Interest in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Increases By 14.1%

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 935,600 shares, an increase of 14.1% from the September 30th total of 820,200 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 357,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 183.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 155.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of AGO traded down $2.23 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $83.46. 320,173 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 383,479. The business has a fifty day moving average of $81.16 and a 200-day moving average of $78.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty has a 1-year low of $61.83 and a 1-year high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. The business had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 6.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AGO. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th.

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.