Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp Has $4.31 Million Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp lessened its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,000 shares during the quarter. Assured Guaranty comprises about 0.3% of Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp owned approximately 0.10% of Assured Guaranty worth $4,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth about $46,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 55.7% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 24.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 535.9% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 1,656 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO stock opened at $81.07 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.26 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $58.27 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.83.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued 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 return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The firm 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 earned $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.31 dividend. 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 presently 9.58%.

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.