Verdence Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 32.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,993 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 13,919 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC owned 0.06% of Assured Guaranty worth $2,610,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth $238,000. 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 worth $1,935,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,794.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,497 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 208.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,524 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $136,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 103.4% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 9,568 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $861,000 after purchasing an additional 4,864 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several analysts have recently weighed in on AGO shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.
Read Our Latest Report on AGO
Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.9 %
Shares of AGO stock traded up $0.72 on Friday, hitting $85.43. The stock had a trading volume of 262,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,590. The company has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a PE ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 1.11. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $90.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.99. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $72.57 and a one year high of $96.50.
Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $199.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.56 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. Research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 1.59%. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is currently 19.94%.
Assured Guaranty Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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