Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Purchased by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 48.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,445 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $341,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 5.7% during the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 2.7% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.0% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $962,000 after buying an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $81.07 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a PE ratio of 6.26 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $58.27 and a 12 month high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released 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. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. The firm had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.