Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Sold by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 15.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & 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 about 1.06% of Assured Guaranty worth $46,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 79,865 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,036,000 after purchasing an additional 5,826 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at about $624,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,516 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,552,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings 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 valued at $6,222,000 after acquiring an additional 20,779 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 10,438 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.13, for a total transaction of $899,024.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,337,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,210,502.55. This represents a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 13,462 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,181,425.12. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, 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 Stock Performance

Shares of AGO stock traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $83.61. The stock had a trading volume of 367,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 333,463. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $85.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $72.57 and a one year high of $96.50. The firm has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a PE ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 0.82.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.03. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 45.58%. The business had revenue of $345.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $257.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.96 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.