Natixis Advisors LLC Has $1.80 Million Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Natixis Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 186 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 183.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 155.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO stock opened at $94.72 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $67.25 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $84.59 and its 200-day moving average is $80.24. The company has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 9.63%.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AGO. StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

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.