Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $86.89 Million Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,161,173 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 51,251 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 2.03% of Assured Guaranty worth $86,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at $66,000. Sage Rhino Capital LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at $211,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the third quarter valued at $174,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of AGO traded down $0.81 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $77.56. The stock had a trading volume of 335,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 396,810. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $51.05 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The firm has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock's 50 day moving average is $83.73 and its 200 day moving average is $78.06.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.55. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 57.45% and a return on equity of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $245.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $194.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is 9.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGO has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, April 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 3,901 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total transaction of $311,806.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 16,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,281,757.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 3,901 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $311,806.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 16,036 shares in the company, valued at $1,281,757.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $134,099,662.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 88,901 shares of company stock worth $7,793,657 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Company 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.