Yousif Capital Management LLC Reduces Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 425 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 46.3% during the fourth 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 during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 100.6% during the fourth 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 during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 108.2% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE:AGO opened at $85.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.20 billion, a PE ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 0.83. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $72.57 and a fifty-two week high of $96.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.72.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 16.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.