Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Sold by Edgestream Partners L.P.

Edgestream Partners L.P. decreased its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 32,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,727 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. owned 0.06% of Assured Guaranty worth $2,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 66.6% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 183.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 100.6% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on AGO. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.9 %

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $85.43 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $90.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.06. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $72.57 and a 52 week high of $96.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $199.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.56 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. Research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.94%.

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.