Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 51,532 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Brown Advisory Inc. cut its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 436,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 51,532 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $39,251,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth approximately $68,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 99.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Francisco L. Borges sold 123,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.22, for a total transaction of $9,927,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 176,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,195,089.44. This represents a 41.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 29,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $2,442,137.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,264,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,926,255.95. The trade was a 2.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 224,797 shares of company stock valued at $17,999,537. Corporate insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Roth Mkm cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.33.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE:AGO opened at $75.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a PE ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 0.76. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $72.76 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.95.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.18 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 17.45%.

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.