XTX Topco Ltd Purchases 237 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

XTX Topco Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 8.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the quarter. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AGO. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at $28,060,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 8,932.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 240,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $211,580,000 after acquiring an additional 237,502 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 89.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 488,895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,005,000 after purchasing an additional 230,258 shares in the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 12.8% in the first quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,134,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,977,000 after purchasing an additional 129,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 533,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,001,000 after purchasing an additional 63,375 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $82.03 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.27. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $73.89 and a fifty-two week high of $96.50. The stock has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.56). Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The company had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 15.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group lowered Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Friday.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 10,438 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.13, for a total transaction of $899,024.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,337,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,210,502.55. The trade was a 0.77% 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 the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.