Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Acquired by Creative Planning

Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $849,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,691,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at approximately $491,000. Long Focus Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 6.3% during the second quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 255,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,673,000 after buying an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 36.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 13,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after buying an additional 3,591 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 293.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,773,000 after buying an additional 94,486 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $83.95 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $59.01 and a 52-week high of $96.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $78.66 and a 200-day moving average of $79.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.48 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. The company had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 9.58%.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.