Raymond James Trust N.A. Raises Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 8.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 294 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. River Road Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth $53,026,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 82.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,101,000 after purchasing an additional 299,658 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised 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 valued at $52,322,000 after buying an additional 184,621 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 981,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,020,000 after buying an additional 114,308 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 293.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,773,000 after buying an additional 94,486 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $93.47 on Thursday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $67.25 and a one year high of $96.60. The company has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $85.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.44. 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 (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The business had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.42 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.