Swiss National Bank Reduces Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Swiss National Bank lowered its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.19% of Assured Guaranty worth $8,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 100.6% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at $97,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,794.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $85.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $72.57 and a twelve month high of $96.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $90.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.40. 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 (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.07). Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The company had revenue of $199.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.56 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 19.94%.

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.