Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
AGL’s common shares are listed on the NYSE under the symbol “AGO.” On February 26, 2024, the approximate number of shareholders of record at the close of business on that date was 76.
AGL is a holding company whose principal source of liquidity is dividends from its operating subsidiaries. The ability of the operating subsidiaries to pay dividends to AGL and AGL’s ability to pay dividends to its shareholders are each subject to legal and regulatory restrictions. The declaration and payment of future dividends will be at the discretion of AGL’s Board and will be dependent upon the Company’s profits and financial requirements and other factors, including legal restrictions on the payment of dividends and such other factors as the Board deems relevant. AGL paid quarterly cash dividends in the amount of $0.28 and $0.25 per common share in 2023 and 2022, respectively. For more information concerning AGL’s dividends, see Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Capital Resources and Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 19, Shareholders’ Equity.
Issuer’s Purchases of Equity Securities
In 2023, the Company repurchased a total of 3,215,893 common shares for approximately $199 million at an average price of $61.95 per share.
From time to time, the Board authorizes the repurchase of additional common shares under a program without an expiration date that it initiated on January 18, 2013. Most recently, on November 1, 2023, the Board authorized the repurchase of an additional $300 million of its common shares. As of February 27, 2024, the Company was authorized to purchase $228 million of its common shares. The Company expects future common share repurchases under the current authorization to be made from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. The timing, form and amount of the share repurchases are at the discretion of management and will depend on a variety of factors, including availability of funds at the holding companies, other potential uses for such funds, market conditions, the Company’s capital position, legal requirements and other factors. The repurchase authorization may be modified, extended or terminated by the Board at any time. It does not have an expiration date. See Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 19, Shareholders’ Equity, for additional information about share repurchases and authorizations.
The following table reflects purchases of AGL common shares made by the Company during the fourth quarter of 2023.
Period Total
Number of
Shares
Purchased (1) Average
Price Paid
Per Share Total Number of
Shares Purchased as
Part of Publicly
Announced Program (2) Maximum Number (or Approximate Dollar Value)
of Shares that
May Yet Be
Purchased
Under the Program(3)
October 1 - October 31 580,637 $ 60.76 580,637 $ 78,066,023
November 1 - November 30 596,694 $ 65.67 527,839 $ 343,390,830
December 1 - December 31 551,204 $ 71.30 551,204 $ 304,088,043
Total 1,728,535 $ 65.82 1,659,680
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(1) The total number of shares purchased also includes shares purchased as a result of employees surrendering shares as payment for withholding taxes upon vesting of share awards.
(2) After giving effect to repurchases since the Board first authorized the repurchase program on January 18, 2013, through February 27, 2024, the Company has repurchased a total of 145 million common shares for approximately $4.9 billion, excluding commissions, at an average price of $34.03 per share. The repurchase program has no expiration date and the Board has periodically increased the authorization since 2013.
(3) Excludes commissions.
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Performance Graph
Set forth below are a line graph and a table comparing the dollar change in the cumulative total shareholder return on AGL’s common shares from December 31, 2018 through December 31, 2023 as compared to the cumulative total return of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index, the cumulative total return of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Financials Sector GICS Level 1 Index and the cumulative total return of the Russell Midcap Financial Services Index. The Company added the Russell Midcap Financial Services Index in 2018 because it believes that this index, which includes the Company, provides a useful comparison to other companies in the financial services sector, and excludes companies that are included in the Standard & Poor's 500 Financials Sector GICS Level 1 Index but are many times larger than the Company. The chart and table depict the value on December 31 of each year from 2018 through 2023 of a $100 investment made on December 31, 2018, with all dividends reinvested:
Assured Guaranty S&P 500 Index S&P 500
Financials Sector GICS Level 1 Index Russell Midcap Financial Services Index
12/31/2018 $ 100.00 $ 100.00 $ 100.00 $ 100.00
12/31/2019 130.13 131.47 132.09 133.55
12/31/2020 85.97 155.65 129.77 140.15
12/31/2021 139.57 200.29 175.02 190.40
12/31/2022 176.13 163.98 156.52 166.59
12/31/2023 215.80 207.04 175.46 188.41
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Source: Calculated from total returns published by Bloomberg.
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