Bank of New York Mellon Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 5.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 395,362 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 23,256 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.79% of Assured Guaranty worth $34,831,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth about $50,447,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,060,000. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 46.0% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 806,821 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $72,904,000 after buying an additional 254,063 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 8,932.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 240,161 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $211,580,000 after purchasing an additional 237,502 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 89.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 488,895 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $44,005,000 after purchasing an additional 230,258 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 13,462 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,181,425.12. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 71,917 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.11, for a total transaction of $6,192,772.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,348,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $116,082,566.03. This trade represents a 5.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 85,004 shares of company stock worth $7,324,274. Insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE AGO traded up $0.18 on Friday, hitting $83.49. The stock had a trading volume of 208,821 shares, compared to its average volume of 331,892. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $85.07 and a 200-day moving average of $87.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.97 and a beta of 0.82. 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 earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.03. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.58% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The company had revenue of $345.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $257.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.