Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 22.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,194 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $9,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 46.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 100.6% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 108.2% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth approximately $97,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $84.03 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 0.83. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $72.57 and a 52-week high of $96.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $84.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.04.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.03. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The firm had revenue of $345.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $257.96 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.96 EPS. Research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.76, for a total transaction of $232,476.24. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 13,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,181,425.12. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 10,438 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.13, for a total value of $899,024.94. Following 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. This represents a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 85,004 shares of company stock valued at $7,324,274. 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.