Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Has $1.97 Million Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 50.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 25,314 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,965,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 25,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 6.5% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $326,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 926,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,670,000 after acquiring an additional 2,953 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO stock opened at $88.95 on Thursday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $65.39 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.57. The company has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued 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%.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This trade represents 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 link. In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

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.