Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 88.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 251,898 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $2,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 977,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,751,000 after purchasing an additional 71,114 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 926,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 184,621 shares in the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth $53,026,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 82.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,101,000 after purchasing an additional 299,658 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $93.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.24. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $67.25 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.63%.

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.