Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Acquired by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 25.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 513 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $222,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AGO. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 46.3% in 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. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 108.2% in 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. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at about $97,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,794.9% in the fourth 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 during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of AGO opened at $85.50 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $72.57 and a 12-month high of $96.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $86.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 0.82.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.58% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The firm had revenue of $345.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $257.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.76, for a total transaction of $232,476.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 13,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,181,425.12. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 71,917 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.11, for a total transaction of $6,192,772.87. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 85,004 shares of company stock valued at $7,324,274. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by 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.