Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys 17,049 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 388.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 21,438 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,049 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 37.0% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total transaction of $65,282.22. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,269,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,409,263.90. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 10,566 shares of company stock valued at $153,269 in the last ninety days. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE:AGO opened at $85.17 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $88.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.01. The company has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.57 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $74.09 and a fifty-two week high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $1.03. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 40.65%.The company had revenue of $207.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Assured Guaranty Company 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.