Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.34 Per Share

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, March 19th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31.

Assured Guaranty has increased its dividend payment by an average of 12.1% annually over the last three years. Assured Guaranty has a dividend payout ratio of 16.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Assured Guaranty to earn $6.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.1%.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $91.10 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $4.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.08 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty has a 12-month low of $72.57 and a 12-month high of $96.60.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

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.