19,863 Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Shares Sold by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC lowered its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,863 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $2,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AGO. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $463,926,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,108,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at approximately $23,025,000. Man Group plc purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at approximately $13,439,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 32.9% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 499,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,687,000 after buying an additional 123,672 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. UBS Group set a $91.00 price target on Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, September 14th. Roth Capital raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.00.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $69.36 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $71.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $67.24 and a twelve month high of $92.39. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.25 and a beta of 0.73.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 37.34%. As a group, analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE: AGO) is a Bermuda-based financial services company that provides credit protection products through its operating insurance subsidiaries. The company’s core business is financial guaranty insurance, which generally guarantees the payment of scheduled principal and interest on debt obligations if the issuer or borrower defaults.

Assured Guaranty primarily serves the public finance and infrastructure markets. Its guarantees support municipal bonds and other public-sector debt, as well as obligations related to transportation, utilities, social infrastructure and other essential-service projects.