Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Position Trimmed by Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.

Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,059,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 64,423 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $95,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,935,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $908,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,133,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $84.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a PE ratio of 6.58 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $85.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.05. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $72.57 and a twelve month high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $199.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.56 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. As a group, research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 19.94%.

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.