Short Interest in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Expands By 41.8%

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) was the target of a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,360,000 shares, a growth of 41.8% from the May 31st total of 958,900 shares. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 466,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of AGO stock traded up $1.09 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $78.24. 516,277 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 408,485. The firm has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a PE ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty has a 1 year low of $54.30 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $77.25 and a 200 day moving average of $80.48.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $245.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $194.78 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 57.45% and a return on equity of 12.48%. The company’s revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. Analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total value of $3,124,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total value of $3,124,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.94, for a total transaction of $2,398,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 304,835 shares in the company, valued at $24,368,509.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 73,901 shares of company stock worth $5,834,807 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,609,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,554,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 63.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 406,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,631,000 after acquiring an additional 158,638 shares in the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 893,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,882,000 after acquiring an additional 67,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 27.4% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 273,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,546,000 after acquiring an additional 58,873 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% 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.