Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Bought by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 418.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 49,971 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,325 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Assured Guaranty worth $3,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AGO. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 13.2% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 981,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,020,000 after purchasing an additional 114,308 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.8% in the third quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 977,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,751,000 after buying an additional 71,114 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 0.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 926,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,670,000 after acquiring an additional 2,953 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 37.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,322,000 after acquiring an additional 184,621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at $53,026,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:AGO opened at $93.09 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $67.25 and a 52-week high of $96.60. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $84.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.14. The company has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The company had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

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.