Victory Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 88.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 251,898 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.06% of Assured Guaranty worth $2,647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 4.4% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 25,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 6.5% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 0.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 926,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,670,000 after buying an additional 2,953 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of AGO opened at $93.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.10. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $67.25 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.24.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The firm 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 revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.42 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share 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. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.33%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.