Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 926,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,953 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 1.82% of Assured Guaranty worth $73,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth $38,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 2.1 %

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $87.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 6.81 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $88.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.13. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $72.49 and a 52 week high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The business had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on AGO. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. 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 Company 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.