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 company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 466,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Assured Guaranty stock traded up $1.09 on Monday, reaching $78.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 516,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,485. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.04 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $77.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.48. Assured Guaranty has a twelve month low of $54.30 and a twelve month high of $96.60.

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

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 9.58%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 3,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $311,806.93. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 16,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,281,757.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 3,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $311,806.93. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 16,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,281,757.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at $110,213,570.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 73,901 shares of company stock valued at $5,834,807. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth about $182,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.