Brown Advisory Inc. Cuts Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

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

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 103.4% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 9,568 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $861,000 after purchasing an additional 4,864 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 1,794.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,497 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,418 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth about $28,060,000. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 646.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 74,228 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,594,000 after purchasing an additional 64,290 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the company'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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 13,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,181,425.12. This represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 71,917 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.11, for a total value of $6,192,772.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,348,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,082,566.03. The trade was a 5.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 85,004 shares of company stock worth $7,324,274 over the last 90 days. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock traded down $1.26 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $83.38. 283,134 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 333,963. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $85.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.32. The stock has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.96 and a beta of 0.82. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $72.57 and a fifty-two week high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $257.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

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