Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Short Interest Down 9.1% in January

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 183.8% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 155.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $94.66 on Monday. Assured Guaranty has a 12-month low of $72.57 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $90.68 and its 200 day moving average is $84.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.42 EPS. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. 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.