Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Stock Position Trimmed by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. cut its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 15.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 529,441 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 98,297 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned about 1.06% of Assured Guaranty worth $46,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the first quarter valued at $1,305,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 70,622 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,222,000 after purchasing an additional 20,779 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth about $2,367,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 9.8% during 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 in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 13,462 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,181,425.12. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 71,917 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,348,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,082,566.03. This represents a 5.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 85,004 shares of company stock worth $7,324,274. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $83.20. The stock had a trading volume of 68,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 332,117. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $85.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $72.57 and a 12-month high of $96.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $4.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.96 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.25%.

Assured Guaranty 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.