Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 17,624 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 442,772 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 17,624 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.81% of Assured Guaranty worth $34,160,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth $35,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $53,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 55.7% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 24.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,017 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 535.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,965 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 1,656 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total transaction of $3,124,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Assured Guaranty stock traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $80.23. 459,630 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 388,773. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $58.27 and a one year high of $96.60. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $78.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.66.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. The firm had revenue of $202.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. The company's revenue was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.58%.

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.