Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 22.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,194 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of Assured Guaranty worth $9,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 21,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,935,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $908,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,133,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,074 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 1.6%

NYSE AGO opened at $84.03 on Tuesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12 month low of $72.57 and a 12 month high of $96.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $84.66 and its 200 day moving average is $88.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 0.83.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $345.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $257.96 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.25%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 10,438 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.13, for a total value of $899,024.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,337,635 shares in the company, valued at $115,210,502.55. This trade represents a 0.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Laura Bieling sold 2,649 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.76, for a total value of $232,476.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 13,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,181,425.12. This trade represents a 16.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 85,004 shares of company stock valued at $7,324,274 over the last 90 days. 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.