Amundi Acquires 64,290 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Amundi raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 646.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,290 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned approximately 0.15% of Assured Guaranty worth $6,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 6.5% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 4.4% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 25,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.3% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at $211,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AGO. UBS Group upped their target price on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO stock opened at $86.32 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $90.25 and a 200 day moving average of $87.22. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $72.57 and a 1 year high of $96.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.07). Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The firm had revenue of $199.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.56 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 19.94%.

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.