Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Bought by Acadian Asset Management LLC

Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 263.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,654 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $707,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,308,000 after acquiring an additional 57,928 shares during the period. Wealthstar Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 279.2% during the first quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 15,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 11,358 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 42.7% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 24,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 7,222 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $885,000. Finally, Symmetry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at approximately $908,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $80.88 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.04. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $58.27 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The firm has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $202.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 9.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

About Assured Guaranty

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.