TD Asset Management Inc Invests $378,000 in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

TD Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $378,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AGO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,609,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,554,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 57,928 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 63.1% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 124,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,854,000 after buying an additional 48,125 shares during the period. Finally, EULAV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,664,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 4.1 %

AGO stock opened at $80.18 on Monday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $58.27 and a 52 week high of $96.60. The company has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.19 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $78.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, 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.

About Assured Guaranty

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.