Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Invests $669,000 in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 8,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $669,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 156.4% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 49,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,743,000 after acquiring an additional 30,208 shares in the last quarter. IMC Chicago LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at $1,446,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth $51,538,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,480,000 after acquiring an additional 132,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 138.3% in the 4th quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 31,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 18,250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $76.14 on Tuesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $72.76 and a 1 year high of $92.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $80.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter. The company 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the sale, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $691,696.24. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 209,388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the purchase, the insider 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 disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.