Cerity Partners LLC Has $13.87 Million Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 112.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 174,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 92,408 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $13,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.8 %

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $94.72 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $84.59 and a 200-day moving average of $80.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $67.25 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The company’s revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group upped their price target on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.