Farther Finance Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 183.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 386 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $47,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 155.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $91.54 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $65.39 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $82.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AGO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of Assured Guaranty 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 owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.