De Lisle Partners LLP Cuts Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

De Lisle Partners LLP cut its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 21,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,641 shares during the period. De Lisle Partners LLP’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth $35,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 183.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $93.47 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $67.25 and a 12 month high of $96.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $85.37 and a 200 day moving average of $80.53. The firm has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for 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. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.