Man Group plc trimmed its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 32.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,112 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 29,112 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned approximately 0.12% of Assured Guaranty worth $5,501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 18,738 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,685,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 426.7% in the 4th quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 46,989 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,229,000 after acquiring an additional 38,068 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth about $884,000. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at $254,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,074 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Assured Guaranty Price Performance
AGO traded up $0.42 during trading on Monday, hitting $84.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 395,444 shares, compared to its average volume of 347,115. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 0.82. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $72.57 and a twelve month high of $96.50. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $85.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.52.
Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The firm had revenue of $345.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $257.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.25%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty
In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 71,917 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,348,073 shares in the company, valued at $116,082,566.03. This represents a 5.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.76, for a total value of $232,476.24. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 13,462 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,181,425.12. This trade represents a 16.44% 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 three months. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Assured Guaranty Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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