Virtu Financial LLC Invests $422,000 in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $422,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,554,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE AGO opened at $79.52 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.35. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $56.77 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $245.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $194.78 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 57.45% and a return on equity of 12.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total value of $3,124,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,410,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.94, for a total value of $2,398,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 304,835 shares in the company, valued at $24,368,509.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total transaction of $3,124,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,213,570.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 73,901 shares of company stock valued at $5,834,807. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty 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.