Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Sells 292 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 292 shares during the quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AGO. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 106.0% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 651 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 28.7% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total transaction of $5,083,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,099,662.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE AGO traded down $1.32 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $77.10. The stock had a trading volume of 402,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 376,704. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.71. The firm has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 1.12. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $49.84 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $4.57. The company had revenue of $233.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.15 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 53.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, April 1st.

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.