Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 943,800 shares, an increase of 5.6% from the November 15th total of 893,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 328,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days. Currently, 2.0% of the company's stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction 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 15.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AGO. River Road Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth $53,026,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 82.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $51,101,000 after purchasing an additional 299,658 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $52,322,000 after acquiring an additional 184,621 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 50.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 434,173 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $34,525,000 after purchasing an additional 146,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 112.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 216,912 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $17,249,000 after acquiring an additional 115,012 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AGO shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO stock traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $90.27. The stock had a trading volume of 283,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 373,211. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of 7.01 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.81. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $71.41 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $202.57 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is 9.63%.

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.