Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $34.83 Million Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 5.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 395,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 23,256 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.79% of Assured Guaranty worth $34,831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth $1,305,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 70,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,222,000 after purchasing an additional 20,779 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 74,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,664,000 after acquiring an additional 6,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 236.5% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 168,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,134,000 after acquiring an additional 118,170 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO opened at $81.99 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50 day moving average is $85.35 and its 200 day moving average is $87.12.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its 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 net margin of 45.58% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The business had revenue of $345.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $257.96 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.76, for a total transaction of $232,476.24. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 13,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,181,425.12. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 10,438 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.13, for a total value of $899,024.94. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,337,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,210,502.55. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 85,004 shares of company stock valued at $7,324,274 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.