Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Purchased by Boston Partners

Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 46.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 806,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 254,063 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned 1.59% of Assured Guaranty worth $72,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AGO. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 67.4% during the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,116,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $100,463,000 after acquiring an additional 449,310 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,005,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,531,000 after acquiring an additional 28,026 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 990,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,127,000 after acquiring an additional 9,062 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 926,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,670,000 after acquiring an additional 2,953 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 719,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,740,000 after acquiring an additional 66,487 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $86.66 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.37. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $72.57 and a 1 year high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $199.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.56 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. On average, analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.