Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 311,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $28,060,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.61% of Assured Guaranty at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,508 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,935,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.3% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.6% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 11,454 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.3% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,647 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AGO shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE AGO traded up $2.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $86.32. 231,660 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 343,558. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $72.57 and a 1 year high of $96.50. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $90.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $199.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $199.56 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.94%.

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.