Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Sold by Corient Private Wealth LLC

Corient Private Wealth LLC lowered its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 17.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,839 shares during the quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 214.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,980,000 after purchasing an additional 16,956 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 719,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,740,000 after buying an additional 66,487 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth about $250,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 50.7% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 434,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,525,000 after acquiring an additional 146,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,367,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $88.11 on Wednesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $72.57 and a 1-year high of $96.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.85 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.64.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.07). Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The company had revenue of $199.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.56 million. Analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 19.94%.

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.