9,303 Shares in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Bought by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 9,303 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $740,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,140 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,310 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,732,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on AGO. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 19,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Assured Guaranty stock traded down $1.69 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $86.55. The stock had a trading volume of 174,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 380,378. The firm's fifty day moving average is $81.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.25. The company has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 1.10. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $63.66 and a 52-week high of $96.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty 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.