Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 6,362 Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,362 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $491,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 1.8% during the second quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 906,644 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $69,948,000 after buying an additional 16,110 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 37.4% in 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 during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 82.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $51,101,000 after purchasing an additional 299,658 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,554,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 285,191 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $22,002,000 after purchasing an additional 6,316 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.9 %

AGO stock traded down $0.70 on Friday, hitting $79.51. 362,231 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 396,251. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $58.27 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The business's fifty day moving average is $78.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.54.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Assured Guaranty from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th.

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.