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

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) issued its earnings results on Monday. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00, Briefing.com reports. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The business had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty’s revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 2.7 %

Assured Guaranty stock traded down $2.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $88.95. 439,173 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 382,795. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a PE ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $82.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.57. Assured Guaranty has a 12 month low of $65.39 and a 12 month high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

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