Roth Capital Lifts Earnings Estimates for Assured Guaranty

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

AGO has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $91.54 on Thursday. Assured Guaranty has a twelve month low of $65.39 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $82.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AGO. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 39.0% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth approximately $395,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 261.3% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 40,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,513,000 after acquiring an additional 29,121 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 63.1% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 124,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,854,000 after purchasing an additional 48,125 shares during the period. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 86,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.