Merit Financial Group LLC Takes Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AGO. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 293.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,773,000 after buying an additional 94,486 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 214.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,980,000 after purchasing an additional 16,956 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at about $1,088,000. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at about $1,691,000. Finally, Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 7.8% in the third 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. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO stock opened at $92.23 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $72.57 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.17 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.38.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.