Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 111,498 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 218.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 162,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 111,498 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC owned 0.34% of Assured Guaranty worth $13,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 58.3% in the 2nd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,791,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $151,549,000 after purchasing an additional 660,009 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,606,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 176.3% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 366,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,935,000 after purchasing an additional 233,966 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 60.7% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 481,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,957,000 after purchasing an additional 182,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HRT Financial LP acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,739,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AGO shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Assured Guaranty from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.00.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.5%

AGO opened at $89.96 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $88.90 and a 200-day moving average of $85.06. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $74.09 and a 52 week high of $96.50. The stock has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $1.03. The company had revenue of $207.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.76 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.65% and a return on equity of 7.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 19th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.87%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 1,882 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.64, for a total value of $31,316.48. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,281,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,877,703.68. The trade was a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 13,520 shares of company stock valued at $230,312 in the last quarter. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.