Natixis Advisors LLC Has $1.80 Million Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Natixis Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 0.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 22,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 186 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 183.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 155.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE AGO opened at $94.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.10. 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 fifty day moving average price is $84.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.24. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $67.25 and a 1 year high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. The business 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%. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.63%.

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.