Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO – Get Rating) by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,779 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 442 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC's holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,158,570 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $583,035,000 after buying an additional 108,726 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,928,269 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $504,714,000 after buying an additional 410,594 shares in the last quarter. Reinhart Partners Inc. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 62.1% during the 3rd quarter. Reinhart Partners Inc. now owns 679,897 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $32,941,000 after buying an additional 260,507 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 25.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 550,201 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $35,027,000 after purchasing an additional 111,713 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 527,523 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $29,430,000 after purchasing an additional 25,480 shares during the period. 90.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AGO shares. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Compass Point started coverage on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, November 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $84.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $74.00.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of AGO opened at $55.30 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $45.91 and a 52 week high of $67.13. The firm has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.51 and a beta of 1.12. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $61.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 8th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 7th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio is 57.73%.

Assured Guaranty Profile

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Assured Guaranty Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of credit protection products to the U.S. and international public finance, and structured finance markets through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The Insurance segment includes the company's domestic and foreign insurance subsidiaries and their wholly-owned subsidiaries that provide credit protection products to the U.S.

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