Commerce Bank Cuts Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Commerce Bank lowered its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 20.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 650 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AGO. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth $31,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth $35,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 183.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’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 directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE AGO opened at $93.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $67.25 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The company has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $85.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.44.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current 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 $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 presently 9.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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.