Inspire Investing LLC Invests $769,000 in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $769,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,609,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,554,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 37.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,322,000 after acquiring an additional 184,621 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,308,000 after acquiring an additional 57,928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,859,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $81.02 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $58.27 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $78.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.99. The firm has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.26 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The business had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.58%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.