Veriti Management LLC lowered its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO – Get Rating) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,344 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 494 shares during the period. Veriti Management LLC's holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.2% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,158,570 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $583,035,000 after purchasing an additional 108,726 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 5.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,928,269 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $504,714,000 after purchasing an additional 410,594 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 62.1% during the third quarter. Reinhart Partners Inc. now owns 679,897 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,941,000 after purchasing an additional 260,507 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 25.5% during the first 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, Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 59.2% during the third quarter. Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC now owns 545,196 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,415,000 after purchasing an additional 202,687 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGO has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $74.50.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $50.27 on Monday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $57.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.10. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $45.21 and a 52 week high of $67.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.91 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 8th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 7th. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is presently 57.73%.

About Assured Guaranty

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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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