Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 23,598 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,212,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 23,598 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 7.74% of Assured Guaranty worth $324,979,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 48.7% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 1,445 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 60.1% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 4,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,764 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,322,000 after purchasing an additional 184,621 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 3.6% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 49,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,803,000 after buying an additional 1,720 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $80.72 on Tuesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $58.27 and a one year high of $96.60. The company has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 6.23 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.74 and a 200-day moving average of $80.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The firm had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.