Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC cut its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 764,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 16,572 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.66% of Assured Guaranty worth $68,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $112,840,000 after purchasing an additional 144,841 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,929,000 after purchasing an additional 92,148 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,035,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,683,000 after purchasing an additional 69,020 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 540,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,779,000 after purchasing an additional 108,280 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 511,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,337,000 after purchasing an additional 30,243 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 1.1%

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $74.75 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $79.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.58 and a beta of 0.76. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $72.76 and a twelve month high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. The business had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.18 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Roth Mkm cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 29,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $2,442,137.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,264,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,926,255.95. This trade represents a 2.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total value of $3,931,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 256,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,146,453.62. This represents a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 224,797 shares of company stock worth $17,999,537. Corporate insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.