Bridgefront Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 6,032 Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,032 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $511,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3,391.7% in the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 1,080.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total value of $65,282.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,269,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,409,263.90. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,000.58. This represents a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,920 shares of company stock valued at $261,214. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.00.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of AGO opened at $83.56 on Tuesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $74.09 and a one year high of $92.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $86.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.16 and a beta of 0.90.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.78. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.The company had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 14.84%.

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.