Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 73.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,561 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,158,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $583,035,000 after buying an additional 108,726 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 5.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,928,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $504,714,000 after acquiring an additional 410,594 shares in the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 893,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,882,000 after purchasing an additional 67,613 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 826,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,119,000 after purchasing an additional 13,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 660,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,966,000 after purchasing an additional 102,707 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total value of $5,083,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,450,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $77.10 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $49.84 and a one year high of $96.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 1.12.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $4.57. The firm had revenue of $233.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.15 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 53.82%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.22 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.00%.

Assured Guaranty 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.