Virtu Financial LLC Acquires New Shares in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $909,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $466,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 1.6% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 11,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $85.77 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $71.88 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $88.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.01.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.42 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.63%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,593.05. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AGO shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th.

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.