Allianz Asset Management GmbH Buys 66,487 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 719,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 66,487 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $64,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.2% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.3% during the third 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 during the period. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its stake 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 valued at $911,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 5.3% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE AGO opened at $89.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.06. 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 twelve month low of $72.57 and a twelve month high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. 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.