Roth Capital Boosts Earnings Estimates for Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) – Roth Capital lifted their FY2024 earnings estimates for Assured Guaranty in a report issued on Tuesday, November 12th. Roth Capital analyst H. Fong now forecasts that the financial services provider will earn $7.30 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $6.30. The consensus estimate for Assured Guaranty’s current full-year earnings is $6.30 per share.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The firm had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 2.9 %

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $91.54 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty has a twelve month low of $65.39 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.57.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.7% during the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.7% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 9.63%.

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.