Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Makes New $235,000 Investment in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 547.9% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 642,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,881,000 after acquiring an additional 543,291 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 63.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 406,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,631,000 after buying an additional 158,638 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 27.4% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 273,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,546,000 after buying an additional 58,873 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 4.9% during the third quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 826,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,000,000 after buying an additional 38,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth approximately $2,039,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE AGO opened at $78.87 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $49.84 and a 12 month high of $96.60. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.36 and a beta of 1.12. The company’s 50 day moving average is $86.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.34.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $4.57. The firm had revenue of $233.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.15 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 53.82% and a return on equity of 11.82%. The company’s revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 10.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total value of $5,083,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.