Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Stock Purchased by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,080,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,394 shares during the quarter. Assured Guaranty comprises 0.7% of Royce & Associates LP’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Royce & Associates LP owned 2.46% of Assured Guaranty worth $73,191,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter valued at $463,926,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 32.9% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 499,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,687,000 after acquiring an additional 123,672 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth $30,108,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,025,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 200,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,566,000 after acquiring an additional 60,286 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AGO. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group set a $91.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, September 14th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $80.00 to $85.00 in a report on Friday, September 25th. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.00.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE:AGO traded up $1.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.59. 361,013 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 376,492. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 0.65. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $67.24 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.31. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 34.21% and a return on equity of 6.53%. The company had revenue of $214.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $205.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.57 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 18th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.50%.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd. is a Bermuda-based financial guaranty insurer that provides credit protection for debt issued by public entities and private-sector borrowers. Its guarantees are designed to help borrowers access capital markets and provide investors with added protection against losses if an issuer fails to meet its payment obligations. The company’s core business includes insuring municipal and other public finance debt, such as bonds for infrastructure and essential services, as well as obligations backed by structured-finance assets.