Sanctuary Advisors LLC Purchases 1,169 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 6.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,169 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,525,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 1.3% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $909,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 11,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of AGO stock opened at $87.70 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.10. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $72.49 and a 52-week high of $96.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 6.81 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The firm had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.