Yousif Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 950 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,645,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 214.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,980,000 after buying an additional 16,956 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth about $250,000. VELA Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 29.3% in the third quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 30,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 6,865 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 50.7% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 434,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,525,000 after purchasing an additional 146,107 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 96.6% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 81,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 40,085 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $90.95 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $90.63 and its 200 day moving average is $85.47. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $72.57 and a twelve month high of $96.60. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.42 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

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.