Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Exchange Traded Concepts LLC

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lessened its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 71.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 24,795 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 99.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 583.3% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE AGO opened at $90.57 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $74.09 and a 12-month high of $96.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.24 and a beta of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $207.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.76 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.65% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 19th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on AGO shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, December 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.00.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 1,882 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.64, for a total value of $31,316.48. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 5,281,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,877,703.68. This trade represents a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 16,929 shares of company stock worth $290,924 in the last three months. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.