Edgestream Partners L.P. Purchases 42,625 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 809.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 42,625 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. owned 0.09% of Assured Guaranty worth $3,695,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AGO stock opened at $80.88 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $58.27 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $78.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.04.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released 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. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The business had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AGO. StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total value of $3,124,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,213,570.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

About Assured Guaranty

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.