Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Invests $46,000 in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

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

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO stock opened at $81.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.27 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $78.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $58.27 and a 1-year high of $96.60.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th.

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.