Cresset Asset Management LLC Has $230,000 Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Cresset Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 17.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,614 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 550 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 27.6% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $136,000 after purchasing an additional 1,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth approximately $218,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AGO. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total value of $3,260,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 291,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,778,749.28. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $81.44 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.00 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.38. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $74.09 and a 12-month high of $96.50.

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). The company had revenue of $281.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.91 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be paid 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%.

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.