Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 12.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,059 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AGO. River Road Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,026,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $51,101,000 after purchasing an additional 299,658 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at approximately $24,683,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $52,322,000 after purchasing an additional 184,621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 981,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,020,000 after purchasing an additional 114,308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $93.32 on Wednesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $67.25 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $84.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.34. The company has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.36 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 2.20 % 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 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.