Wellington Management Group LLP Has $22.74 Million Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Wellington Management Group LLP decreased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 22.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 283,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 84,041 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 0.64% of Assured Guaranty worth $22,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at approximately $463,926,000. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,885,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $169,483,000 after acquiring an additional 42,311 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,464,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $131,589,000 after acquiring an additional 131,195 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its position in Assured Guaranty by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,480,000 after acquiring an additional 132,351 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at $51,538,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $75.56 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $72.76 and a 52-week high of $92.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $80.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The business had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. On average, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 209,388 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,096,591.98. This represents a 20.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on AGO. UBS Group upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.33.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.