Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Sells 23,881 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. decreased its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 44.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 29,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 23,881 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $2,333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 96.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 81,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 40,085 shares during the last quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 29.3% in the third quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 30,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 6,865 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 183.8% in the third 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. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares during the period. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $362,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $87.53 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $64.59 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.32. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.12 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $202.00 million for 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 firm’s revenue was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AGO shares. StockNews.com cut Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.