BNP Paribas Financial Markets Cuts Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lowered its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 78.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 94,182 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 339,991 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.19% of Assured Guaranty worth $8,477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 214.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,879 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,980,000 after purchasing an additional 16,956 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 719,249 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $64,740,000 after acquiring an additional 66,487 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth $250,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth about $2,367,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 74,039 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,664,000 after acquiring an additional 6,581 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.76, for a total transaction of $232,476.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 13,462 shares in the company, valued at $1,181,425.12. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE:AGO traded up $0.20 on Thursday, reaching $86.54. 298,447 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 344,838. The firm has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.72 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.44. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $72.57 and a 52 week high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.03. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The business had revenue of $345.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $257.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.25%.

About Assured Guaranty

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.