Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.19% of Assured Guaranty worth $8,032,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was 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 $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group increased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:AGO opened at $94.72 on Tuesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $67.25 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The stock has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day moving average of $84.59 and a 200-day moving average of $80.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The company had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.63%.

About Assured Guaranty

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.