Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Sold by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 42,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $3,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AGO. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth $1,141,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 1,388 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth $358,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth $2,035,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 2,561 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group raised their target price on Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total value of $5,083,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,450,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of AGO traded up $1.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $77.52. 555,458 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 482,638. The company has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $86.22 and its 200-day moving average is $75.85. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $49.84 and a 52 week high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $4.57. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 53.82%. The company had revenue of $233.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 10.00%.

About Assured Guaranty

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.