Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Sold by Bridgewater Associates LP

Bridgewater Associates LP lowered its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 6.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 66,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,762 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $5,286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 50.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 434,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,525,000 after acquiring an additional 146,107 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth about $277,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 112.6% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 174,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,872,000 after acquiring an additional 92,408 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.6% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 3,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 418.0% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 49,971 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,974,000 after acquiring an additional 40,325 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.1 %

AGO opened at $93.28 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $67.25 and a twelve month 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $85.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.73. The company has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, November 18th.

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.