Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 229,240 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 4.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,733,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 229,240 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 9.30% of Assured Guaranty worth $376,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AGO. CWM LLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 535.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Assured Guaranty by 63.1% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 52,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,064,000 after purchasing an additional 20,380 shares in the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.8% in the second quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 906,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,948,000 after acquiring an additional 16,110 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth approximately $1,389,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3.5% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 292,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,595,000 after acquiring an additional 9,971 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $90.71 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $87.03 and a 200 day moving average of $81.28. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.05 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $67.27 and a 12-month high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.63%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of Assured Guaranty 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 transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AGO. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.