Edgestream Partners L.P. Sells 7,266 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Edgestream Partners L.P. reduced its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,266 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. owned 0.08% of Assured Guaranty worth $3,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 247.1% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 18,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after purchasing an additional 13,422 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the third quarter valued at about $281,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 112.9% during the third 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 valued at $17,249,000 after purchasing an additional 115,012 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 221.8% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 45,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,609,000 after purchasing an additional 31,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $34,525,000 after purchasing an additional 146,107 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $93.28 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $85.86 and its 200 day moving average is $80.77. 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 cap of $4.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 1.10. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $67.25 and a one year high of $96.60.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 9.63%.

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.