River Road Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

River Road Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 666,821 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $53,026,000. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 1.22% of Assured Guaranty at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 183.8% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 155.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 637 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 55.7% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO traded up $0.96 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $82.48. 144,569 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 381,977. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 1.10. 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 simple moving average is $81.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.14. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $63.66 and a 12 month high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AGO shares. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Assured Guaranty from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group raised their target price on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.