Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC Makes New $1.01 Million Investment in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 11,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,006,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,121,000. Savant Capital LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth about $247,000. Strs Ohio grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 9.4% during the second quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 59,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,165,000 after buying an additional 5,094 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 7,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at about $382,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AGO. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Zacks Research raised Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $2,095,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,287,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $107,956,525.49. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 6,258 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.90, for a total transaction of $105,760.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,282,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,282,598.60. The trade was a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,827 shares of company stock worth $2,385,001. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $87.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.17 billion, a PE ratio of 9.68 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $82.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.96. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $74.09 and a fifty-two week high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $1.03. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.18% and a net margin of 44.53%.The firm had revenue of $206.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.76 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 16.87%.

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.