Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC Has $656,000 Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lowered its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 81.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 31,696 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 67.4% during the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,116,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,463,000 after purchasing an additional 449,310 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,796,000 after purchasing an additional 13,552 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 990,193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,127,000 after purchasing an additional 9,062 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 903,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,303,000 after purchasing an additional 97,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 46.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 806,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,904,000 after purchasing an additional 254,063 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.76, for a total transaction of $232,476.24. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 13,462 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE AGO opened at $86.54 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $72.57 and a twelve month high of $96.50. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a PE ratio of 6.72 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.44.

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

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

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

Assured Guaranty Company 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.