KBC Group NV Buys 326 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. River Road Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at $53,026,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 82.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,101,000 after buying an additional 299,658 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth about $24,683,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,322,000 after acquiring an additional 184,621 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 293.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,773,000 after acquiring an additional 94,486 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO stock opened at $92.11 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $66.56 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $84.03 and its 200-day moving average is $80.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.15 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AGO. StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday.

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.