Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC lowered its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,863 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC owned 0.10% of Assured Guaranty worth $2,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth $463,926,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth about $30,108,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth about $23,025,000. Man Group plc purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth about $13,439,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 32.9% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 499,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,687,000 after buying an additional 123,672 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of AGO opened at $69.36 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.12. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.25 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $67.24 and a twelve month high of $92.39.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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