Rhumbline Advisers Cuts Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 107,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,706 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $9,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth about $30,000. MAI Capital Management grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 17.8% in the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth $104,000. State of Wyoming boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 583.3% in the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 28.2% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $90.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.96 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $74.09 and a 12-month high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $1.03. The business had revenue of $207.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.76 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.42 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 1,882 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.64, for a total value of $31,316.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,281,112 shares in the company, valued at $87,877,703.68. This represents a 0.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $2,095,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,287,803 shares in the company, valued at $107,956,525.49. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 41,929 shares of company stock valued at $2,386,674 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.