Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Sells 106,589 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 536,165 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 106,589 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $42,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,732,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 284.0% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 41,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,200,000 after purchasing an additional 30,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 535.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $2,480,310.00. Following 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 trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, 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 analysts recently issued reports on AGO shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $93.28 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $67.25 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The company’s 50-day moving average is $85.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.77.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.63%.

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.