VELA Investment Management LLC Has $2.41 Million Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

VELA Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 29.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,263 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,865 shares during the quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC owned 0.06% of Assured Guaranty worth $2,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,308,000 after acquiring an additional 57,928 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 42.7% during the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 24,136 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 7,222 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth $885,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth $861,000. Finally, TCW Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at $1,389,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of Assured Guaranty 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO stock traded down $0.90 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $82.56. 294,556 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 383,992. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $63.66 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $81.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.05. The company has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $202.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. Assured Guaranty's revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is currently 10.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AGO. 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. StockNews.com cut Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th.

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.