Geode Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Geode Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 787,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 33,854 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.60% of Assured Guaranty worth $68,634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at $104,000. State of Wyoming raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 583.3% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 28.2% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $172,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth about $203,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $89.84 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.91. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $74.09 and a 12 month high of $96.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 0.98.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $206.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.76 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.18% and a net margin of 44.53%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 16.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 1,882 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.64, for a total transaction of $31,316.48. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,281,112 shares in the company, valued at $87,877,703.68. This represents a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total value of $2,095,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,287,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $107,956,525.49. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 41,929 shares of company stock worth $2,386,674 over the last three months. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.00.

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.