Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) released its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00, Briefing.com reports. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The company had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.42 EPS. Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 2.3 %

AGO stock opened at $89.56 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Assured Guaranty has a twelve month low of $64.59 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The stock has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.28 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $82.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.33.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.08%.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AGO shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com cut Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th.

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.