Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 972,100 shares, a decline of 9.1% from the December 31st total of 1,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 287,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.4 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:AGO opened at $94.66 on Friday. Assured Guaranty has a one year low of $72.57 and a one year high of $96.60. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $90.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The business had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.42 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.63%.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,005,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,531,000 after buying an additional 28,026 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 981,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,020,000 after acquiring an additional 114,308 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 926,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,026,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 50.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 434,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,525,000 after purchasing an additional 146,107 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.