Ieq Capital LLC Purchases 30,464 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 393.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 30,464 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Assured Guaranty worth $3,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,005,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $90,531,000 after buying an additional 28,026 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 13.2% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 981,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,020,000 after buying an additional 114,308 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 0.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 926,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,670,000 after buying an additional 2,953 shares during the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth about $53,026,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 50.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 434,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,525,000 after buying an additional 146,107 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

AGO opened at $89.83 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.06. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $72.57 and a one year high of $96.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.63%.

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.