JPMorgan Chase & Co. Decreases Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 140,961 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 39,789 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.28% of Assured Guaranty worth $11,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 293.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,773,000 after buying an additional 94,486 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 214.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,879 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,980,000 after purchasing an additional 16,956 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth about $870,000. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth about $1,691,000. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,088,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AGO. StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.9 %

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $85.30 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $89.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.49. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $72.57 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The company has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.12.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.42 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.63%.

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.