Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Stock Holdings Lifted by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,308,000 after purchasing an additional 57,928 shares during the period. Wealthstar Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 279.2% in the first quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 15,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,346,000 after buying an additional 11,358 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 42.7% in the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 24,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 7,222 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter valued at approximately $885,000. Finally, Symmetry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $908,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total value of $3,124,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,213,570.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $80.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $78.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.66. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $58.27 and a twelve month high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The company had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.58%.

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.