Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,081 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.12% of Assured Guaranty worth $5,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AGO. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 183.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty 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 transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AGO. StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $93.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $67.25 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $84.59 and a 200 day moving average of $80.24.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The business had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.63%.

Assured Guaranty Company 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.