Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Has $6.49 Million Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 96.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,560 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 40,085 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned 0.15% of Assured Guaranty worth $6,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 7.8% during the third quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 977,758 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $77,751,000 after purchasing an additional 71,114 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 37.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $52,322,000 after purchasing an additional 184,621 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 82.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,101,000 after purchasing an additional 299,658 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth approximately $25,554,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 2.3% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on AGO. StockNews.com cut Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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 report on Tuesday, July 9th. 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock traded down $0.90 on Friday, hitting $82.56. 294,556 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 287,177. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $81.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current 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 company has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $202.00 million during 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%. 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 company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is 10.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,593.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,593.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company's stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.