Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Sells 213 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. trimmed its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 213 shares during the period. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Truist Financial Corp bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth $428,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 76,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,708,000 after purchasing an additional 9,452 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 22,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,676,000 after acquiring an additional 2,689 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 25,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 407,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,476,000 after buying an additional 4,699 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE AGO traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $80.08. The company had a trading volume of 263,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 388,351. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $58.14 and a 52-week high of $96.60. The stock has a market cap of $4.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.71.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total transaction of $3,124,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AGO shares. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com lowered Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th.

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.