Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Acquired by US Bancorp DE

US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 103.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,568 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,864 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE's holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its holdings 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 during the period. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 11,454 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $911,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,647 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,102 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 2.6 %

Assured Guaranty stock traded up $2.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $86.32. The company had a trading volume of 231,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 343,651. The firm has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $72.57 and a 1 year high of $96.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $90.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $199.00 million during 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is 19.94%.

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.