Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO – Get Rating) by 18.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,004 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,700 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $764,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 255.3% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 405 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at about $71,000. Eaton Vance Management raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 10,046 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diametric Capital LP acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at about $258,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.30% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $51.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.49. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $44.94 and a 1-year high of $65.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.24 and a beta of 1.05.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 16th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is currently 23.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 86,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.21, for a total value of $4,920,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,278,541 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $73,145,330.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 4.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on AGO shares. TheStreet downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "b" rating to a "c+" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, August 5th.

Assured Guaranty Profile

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Assured Guaranty Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Insurance and Asset Management. It offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments.

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