Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 14,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,305,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 12.8% in the first quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,134,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,977,000 after acquiring an additional 129,026 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 67.4% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,116,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,463,000 after purchasing an additional 449,310 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,796,000 after purchasing an additional 13,552 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 990,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,127,000 after purchasing an additional 9,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 903,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,303,000 after buying an additional 97,091 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $85.50 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $72.57 and a 52 week high of $96.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $86.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.36.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.03. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.58% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The company had revenue of $345.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $257.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.96 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 71,917 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.11, for a total value of $6,192,772.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,348,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $116,082,566.03. This trade represents a 5.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.76, for a total transaction of $232,476.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 13,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,181,425.12. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 85,004 shares of company stock valued at $7,324,274. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.