Bridgewater Associates LP Cuts Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Bridgewater Associates LP trimmed its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,762 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP owned 0.13% of Assured Guaranty worth $5,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. River Road Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth about $53,026,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 82.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,101,000 after acquiring an additional 299,658 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 184,621 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake 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 valued at $34,525,000 after acquiring an additional 146,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 13.2% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 981,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,020,000 after acquiring an additional 114,308 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $93.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 1.10. 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 1-year low of $67.25 and a 1-year high of $96.60. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $85.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.73.

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. The firm had revenue of $269.00 million for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

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.