American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 12.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,012,552 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 109,282 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 2.03% of Assured Guaranty worth $89,206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 27.6% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth about $97,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth about $104,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 554.2% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,544 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 1,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth about $218,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages have recently commented on AGO. Zacks Research upgraded Assured Guaranty to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $98.50.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on AGO
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total value of $3,260,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 291,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,778,749.28. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.
Assured Guaranty Price Performance
Shares of Assured Guaranty stock traded up $1.5330 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $82.4230. 132,720 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 330,827. The business has a 50-day moving average of $84.15 and a 200 day moving average of $85.68. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $74.09 and a fifty-two week high of $96.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a PE ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.
Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.56). The firm had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.91 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. Assured Guaranty's revenue was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.
Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is 15.03%.
About Assured Guaranty
(
Free Report)
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.
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