Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 3.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 780,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 25,376 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 1.74% of Assured Guaranty worth $63,602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,538,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 176.3% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 366,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,935,000 after purchasing an additional 233,966 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 261.9% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 142,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,830,000 after purchasing an additional 230,920 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 60.7% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 481,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,957,000 after purchasing an additional 182,004 shares during the period. Finally, Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,480,000 after purchasing an additional 132,351 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $84.31 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $72.76 and a 12-month high of $92.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 9.68 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $78.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.42.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The business had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.18 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 17.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $691,696.24. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total value of $3,931,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 256,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,146,453.62. This trade represents a 16.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 5.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Roth Capital downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.33.

About Assured Guaranty

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.