Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Sells 196 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lessened its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 196 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 13,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 106.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 82,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,399,000 after buying an additional 42,672 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 82.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,101,000 after buying an additional 299,658 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 293.6% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,773,000 after purchasing an additional 94,486 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 36.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 13,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 3,591 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $92.23 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.17 and a beta of 1.12. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $72.57 and a 12 month high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business has a 50-day moving average of $90.43 and a 200 day moving average of $84.41.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The business had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.63%.

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.