Wellington Management Group LLP Has $404.39 Million Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Wellington Management Group LLP trimmed its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,492,726 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 241,215 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 0.09% of Assured Guaranty worth $404,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 214.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,980,000 after buying an additional 16,956 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 719,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,740,000 after acquiring an additional 66,487 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at $250,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at $2,367,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth $28,060,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE AGO opened at $88.01 on Tuesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $72.57 and a 12 month high of $96.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.07). Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The company had revenue of $199.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.56 million. Research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.94%.

About Assured Guaranty

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.