River Road Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

River Road Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 666,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,026,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,308,000 after acquiring an additional 57,928 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 39.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.4% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 47,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares during the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 133.2% during the first quarter. Sciencast Management LP now owns 7,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 4,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,818,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $81.43 on Tuesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $63.66 and a 52-week high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $81.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 10.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.