Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Bought by Edgestream Partners L.P.

Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 809.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,891 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 42,625 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. owned approximately 0.09% of Assured Guaranty worth $3,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 17.2% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 13,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,049,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 48.7% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,414 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 1,445 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 60.1% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 4,697 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,764 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $52,322,000 after purchasing an additional 184,621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO traded up $0.41 on Wednesday, reaching $81.26. The stock had a trading volume of 428,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 391,138. The company has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.27 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $58.27 and a 12-month high of $96.60. 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 business's 50-day moving average price is $78.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.05.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty's quarterly revenue was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is 9.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented 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 cut their target price on Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.