Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires 2,835 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,835 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $7,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. River Road Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth $53,026,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 82.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,101,000 after acquiring an additional 299,658 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 37.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,322,000 after purchasing an additional 184,621 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 50.7% during 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 last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 112.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 216,912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,249,000 after purchasing an additional 115,012 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 3.8 %

Assured Guaranty stock traded down $3.41 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $85.40. The company had a trading volume of 72,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 180,288. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $72.57 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $89.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.33. The firm has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 1.12.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report 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.