Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Has $326,000 Stock Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth $35,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth about $46,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 183.8% in the 3rd 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. increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 155.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value 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 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO stock opened at $91.02 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.76. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $65.39 and a 52 week high of $96.60.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Assured Guaranty Company 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.