Ballentine Partners LLC Invests $284,000 in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,228 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AGO. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth approximately $1,305,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 41.7% in the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 70,622 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,222,000 after acquiring an additional 20,779 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 74,039 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,664,000 after buying an additional 6,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth approximately $624,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was 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 directly owned 13,462 shares of the company's stock, 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 10,438 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.13, for a total value of $899,024.94. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,337,635 shares of the company's stock, valued at $115,210,502.55. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 85,004 shares of company stock worth $7,324,274 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.2%

Assured Guaranty stock traded up $0.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $83.49. 208,821 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 331,981. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $72.57 and a 52-week high of $96.50. The company has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.97 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $85.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.98.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.03. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 45.58%. The company had revenue of $345.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $257.96 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.