Gladius Capital Management LP Invests $31,000 in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 42.7% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 24,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 7,222 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at about $861,000. TCW Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,389,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 293.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,773,000 after purchasing an additional 94,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 63.1% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 52,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,064,000 after purchasing an additional 20,380 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.6 %

AGO stock opened at $91.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 1.10. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $65.39 and a 1-year high of $96.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $83.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced 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 the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS 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 dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th.

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.