Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $1.00 EPS

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) issued its earnings results on Monday. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business posted $3.42 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 4.0 %

NYSE:AGO traded up $3.58 on Tuesday, reaching $93.14. The stock had a trading volume of 245,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 379,568. The company has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.50 and a beta of 1.10. Assured Guaranty has a 12-month low of $64.59 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm's fifty day moving average is $82.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.41.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.