Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 16,268 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 488,651 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 16,268 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $41,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AGO. Creative Planning raised 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 buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased 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 during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 11,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO stock opened at $88.91 on Wednesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $71.41 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The firm has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.90. 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 (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $3.42 EPS. Analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.63%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.