Allianz Asset Management GmbH Sells 178,195 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Allianz Asset Management GmbH decreased its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 45.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 213,157 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 178,195 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $18,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.9% during the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 7,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $629,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 17.8% in the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.6% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total transaction of $65,282.22. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,269,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,409,263.90. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,803 shares of company stock valued at $156,663. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO stock opened at $87.81 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.89 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.15. 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 52-week low of $74.09 and a 52-week high of $94.06.

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 analyst estimates of $196.76 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 40.65%.Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.42 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Profile

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.