LRI Investments LLC Has $25.87 Million Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 296,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,528 shares during the period. Assured Guaranty accounts for approximately 2.0% of LRI Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $25,865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 27.6% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AGO shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.50.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total transaction of $3,260,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 291,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,778,749.28. The trade was a 12.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $2,095,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,287,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $107,956,525.49. The trade was a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.7%

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $80.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $82.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 0.92. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $74.09 and a 52-week high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.56). The firm had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.91 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 15.03%.

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.