Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Bought by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 89.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 488,895 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 230,258 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.96% of Assured Guaranty worth $44,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,508 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,935,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,133,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 46.3% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,929 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $87.74. 39,216 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 349,216. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $72.57 and a 1 year high of $96.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.82 and a beta of 0.84. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $85.45 and a 200-day moving average of $88.21.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.07). Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The business had revenue of $199.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $199.56 million. As a group, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is 19.94%.

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.