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

Creative Planning raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $886,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth $151,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AGO shares. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’s 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 approximately $110,423,321.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was 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 approximately $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO stock opened at $82.56 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $63.66 and a 12 month high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $81.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.02.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.08%.

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.