First Trust Advisors LP Buys 63,642 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 11th, 2023

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO – Get Rating) by 23.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 331,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,642 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.55% of Assured Guaranty worth $16,053,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 59.8% during the third quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth approximately $203,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth approximately $164,000. Finally, Utah Retirement Systems acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth approximately $223,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AGO shares. StockNews.com lowered Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Compass Point started coverage on Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, November 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.00.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $53.51 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.44. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $45.91 and a 12-month high of $67.13. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.58 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 8th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 7th. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 57.73%.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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Assured Guaranty Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of credit protection products to the U.S. and international public finance, and structured finance markets through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The Insurance segment includes the company’s domestic and foreign insurance subsidiaries and their wholly-owned subsidiaries that provide credit protection products to the U.S.