Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Stock Position Boosted by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 50.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 434,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 146,107 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.82% of Assured Guaranty worth $34,525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $466,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $93.28 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $67.25 and a one year high of $96.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $85.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.73. The stock has a market cap of $4.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. The business had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The firm’s revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

About Assured Guaranty

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.