Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Cuts Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 16.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 536,165 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 106,589 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 1.02% of Assured Guaranty worth $42,636,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,140 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $466,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

AGO traded down $1.19 during trading on Monday, hitting $92.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 243,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 377,511. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $86.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.16 and a beta of 1.10. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $67.27 and a twelve month high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The firm had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty's quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AGO. UBS Group lifted their target price on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note 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 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.