Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC lowered its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 34.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 50,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,594 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.11% of Assured Guaranty worth $4,607,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prelude Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total transaction of $3,931,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 256,251 shares in the company, valued at $20,146,453.62. The trade was a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 242,718 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $24.72 per share, with a total value of $5,999,988.96. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,002,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,787,188.96. This trade represents a 31.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Roth Capital lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.33.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE:AGO opened at $82.29 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 0.75. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $72.76 and a one year high of $92.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.69.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.18 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

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

Assured Guaranty 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.