Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $507,000 Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 486 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 214.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,980,000 after purchasing an additional 16,956 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 719,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,740,000 after buying an additional 66,487 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth $250,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at $28,060,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $873,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO stock opened at $78.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $89.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.98. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $72.57 and a 1-year high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $199.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.56 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 19.94%.

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.