Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Boosts Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 35,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,620 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $3,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 13,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 106.0% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 82,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,399,000 after acquiring an additional 42,672 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 293.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,773,000 after purchasing an additional 94,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 36.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 13,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after purchasing an additional 3,591 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.4 %

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $92.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $90.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.38. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $72.57 and a twelve month high of $96.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.17 and a beta of 1.12.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The company had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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.