Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Sold by Everence Capital Management Inc.

Everence Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 50.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,020 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 183.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AGO shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $89.85 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $89.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.16. The stock has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 1.12. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $72.57 and a one year high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.63%.

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.