Raymond James & Associates Sells 7,920 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Raymond James & Associates lessened its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 5.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,553 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,920 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.24% of Assured Guaranty worth $10,226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth $66,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised 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 worth $81,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AGO traded down $0.34 during trading on Monday, hitting $77.75. The stock had a trading volume of 249,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 391,385. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $57.91 and a 12 month high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a PE ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $78.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.82.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 57.45% and a return on equity of 12.48%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is currently 9.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $110.00 target price 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 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total transaction of $3,124,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.