Covestor Ltd Cuts Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Covestor Ltd lowered its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 49.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 391 shares during the quarter. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $31,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 39.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $411,000 after buying an additional 1,320 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at about $395,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 261.3% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 40,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,513,000 after purchasing an additional 29,121 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 63.1% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 124,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,854,000 after purchasing an additional 48,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 86,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were 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 owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $91.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 1.10. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $65.39 and a 52 week high of $96.60. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $82.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AGO. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th.

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.