Stifel Financial Corp Purchases 3,191 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,191 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth $31,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:AGO opened at $88.01 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $88.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.24. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $72.57 and a 52 week high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.63%.

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.