US Bancorp DE Boosts Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 40.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,350 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 42.7% during the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 24,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 7,222 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth $861,000. TCW Group Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at $1,389,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 293.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,773,000 after purchasing an additional 94,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 63.1% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 52,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,064,000 after purchasing an additional 20,380 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was 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 directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AGO. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $91.43 on Wednesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $64.59 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.50 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.41.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The company had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.42 EPS. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 10.08%.

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.