Bank of America Corp DE Decreases Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Bank of America Corp DE reduced its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 35.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 144,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 78,981 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.28% of Assured Guaranty worth $13,031,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 100.6% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 108.2% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at about $97,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,794.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assured Guaranty news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.76, for a total value of $232,476.24. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 13,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,181,425.12. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 71,917 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.11, for a total transaction of $6,192,772.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,348,073 shares in the company, valued at $116,082,566.03. The trade was a 5.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 85,004 shares of company stock worth $7,324,274 over the last quarter. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $83.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a PE ratio of 6.52 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.50. 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 Ltd. has a 1 year low of $72.57 and a 1 year high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $345.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $257.96 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.96 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.25%.

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.