Millennium Management LLC lessened its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 60.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 49,689 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 74,430 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Assured Guaranty worth $4,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,508 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,935,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $908,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,133,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position 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 worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 10,438 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.13, for a total value of $899,024.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,337,635 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $115,210,502.55. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.76, for a total value of $232,476.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 13,462 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders 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 0.1%
Assured Guaranty stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $84.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 346,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 346,358. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 0.82. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $72.57 and a 1 year high of $96.50. 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 stock's fifty day moving average is $84.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.28.
Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $345.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $257.96 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.
Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is 16.25%.
About Assured Guaranty
(
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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