45,306 Shares in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Acquired by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 45,306 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,629,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $459,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 6.3% during the third quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 12.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 209,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,096,591.98. The trade was a 20.88% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 5.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.4%

AGO opened at $75.55 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $72.76 and a twelve month high of $92.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. Analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Roth Capital downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.33.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.