Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Has $3.61 Million Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 221.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,380 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 31,280 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned approximately 0.09% of Assured Guaranty worth $3,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,310 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,367 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $643,000 after buying an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth $422,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 14.5% during 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. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 55.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE:AGO traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $93.28. The company had a trading volume of 124,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,175. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $85.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.75. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $67.25 and a one year high of $96.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is currently 9.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company's stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the business'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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock 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.

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.