Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Newly Bought by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 116,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,922,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AGO. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 43.5% during the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 4,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 1,351 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the third quarter valued at approximately $74,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 19.9% in the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 42,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,854,000 after buying an additional 7,000 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 210.2% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 2,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 55.5% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 6,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $456,000 after buying an additional 2,405 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE AGO opened at $72.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $71.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.83. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $67.24 and a 1 year high of $92.39. The company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.27 and a beta of 0.65.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 37.34%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 18th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 20.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AGO. Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. UBS Group set a $91.00 price target on Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Roth Capital raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.00.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO) is a Bermuda-based financial services company that provides credit protection products through its operating insurance subsidiaries. The company’s core business is financial guaranty insurance, which generally guarantees the payment of scheduled principal and interest on debt obligations if the issuer or borrower defaults.

Assured Guaranty primarily serves the public finance and infrastructure markets. Its guarantees support municipal bonds and other public-sector debt, as well as obligations related to transportation, utilities, social infrastructure and other essential-service projects.