Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Boosts Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 10.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 27.6% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 108.2% during 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 purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 554.2% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $136,000 after purchasing an additional 1,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $214,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 10,438 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.13, for a total transaction of $899,024.94. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,337,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,210,502.55. The trade was a 0.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 13,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,181,425.12. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 85,004 shares of company stock worth $7,324,274 in the last three months. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE:AGO opened at $83.82 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.64. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $72.57 and a 1-year high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $257.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.96 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty 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.