Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 15,245 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,141,000. Assured Guaranty comprises about 1.2% of Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.
Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,158,570 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $583,035,000 after buying an additional 108,726 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,928,269 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $504,714,000 after buying an additional 410,594 shares in the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 893,788 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $66,882,000 after buying an additional 67,613 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 826,504 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $46,119,000 after buying an additional 13,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 660,383 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,966,000 after buying an additional 102,707 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Assured Guaranty Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:AGO traded up $1.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $77.53. 555,458 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 381,255. The company's 50 day moving average is $86.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $49.84 and a 52 week high of $96.60.
Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $196.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. The company's revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side 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. Investors 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 1.44%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.00%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages have commented on AGO. UBS Group upped 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, April 1st.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on AGO
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
About Assured Guaranty
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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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