Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 5.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 233 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. River Road Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,026,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 82.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,101,000 after acquiring an additional 299,658 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at $25,554,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,322,000 after acquiring an additional 184,621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 293.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,773,000 after purchasing an additional 94,486 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $91.55 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $65.39 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.88. The firm has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.11 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. 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 1.35%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.