Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Stock Holdings Cut by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 305,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,086 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $22,856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AGO. Sage Rhino Capital LLC bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth about $211,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $262,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 76,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,708,000 after purchasing an additional 9,452 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth approximately $428,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth approximately $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total transaction of $5,083,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $82.08 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $84.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.54. The stock has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $49.84 and a one year high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.55. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 53.82% and a return on equity of 11.82%. The firm had revenue of $245.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $194.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 10.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated 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 upped their target price on Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st.

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.