Raymond James & Associates Grows Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 226,309 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 21,025 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.40% of Assured Guaranty worth $16,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 106.0% during the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 651 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 28.7% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,117 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at $95,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total transaction of $5,083,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.6 %

AGO traded down $0.53 on Tuesday, hitting $85.00. 597,229 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 365,386. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $49.32 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The company has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $86.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.08.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $4.57. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 53.82%. The firm had revenue of $233.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $196.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. Assured Guaranty's revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.00%.

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.