American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stock Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 903,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 97,091 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $81,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings 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 during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $908,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.3% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 11,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 46.3% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $87.71 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $90.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.57. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $72.57 and a 12-month high of $96.50. 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 $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 6.82 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $199.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.56 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 19.94%.

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.