Victory Capital Management Inc. Acquires 6,316 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 285,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,316 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $22,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,609,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,554,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,308,000 after purchasing an additional 57,928 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 63.1% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 124,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,854,000 after purchasing an additional 48,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EULAV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,664,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.4 %

AGO stock opened at $76.40 on Thursday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $58.27 and a one year high of $96.60. The stock has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $78.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced 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 business had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. Assured Guaranty’s revenue was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.58%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on AGO shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note 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.