Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New $884,000 Investment in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 9,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $884,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 100.6% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 108.2% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth $97,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,794.9% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.76, for a total value of $232,476.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 13,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,181,425.12. The trade was a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $86.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.72 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.44. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $72.57 and a 12-month high of $96.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $345.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $257.96 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.96 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.25%.

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.