Rhumbline Advisers Decreases Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Rhumbline Advisers cut its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 132,197 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 9,444 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.24% of Assured Guaranty worth $10,199,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 906,644 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $69,948,000 after acquiring an additional 16,110 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,609,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 407,268 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $30,476,000 after acquiring an additional 4,699 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,554,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 252,270 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO stock traded up $0.67 during trading on Thursday, reaching $77.07. 326,273 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 391,216. The company has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm's 50-day moving average is $78.60 and its 200 day moving average is $80.40. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $58.27 and a 1 year high of $96.60.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is 9.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AGO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total value of $3,124,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,410,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $110,213,570.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

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.