Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires 2,835 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 84,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,835 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned 0.17% of Assured Guaranty worth $7,596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Creative Planning grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $909,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.7% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.6% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 11,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO traded down $3.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $85.40. 72,616 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 180,288. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 1.12. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $72.57 and a 52-week high of $96.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $89.73 and a 200-day moving average of $83.33.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The business had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.