Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Acquires 249 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 39.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 261.3% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 40,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,513,000 after buying an additional 29,121 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 86,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,527,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth about $218,000. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at about $452,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE AGO opened at $91.02 on Monday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $65.39 and a 12 month high of $96.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $83.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.76.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. 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.