New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,873 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.07% of Assured Guaranty worth $3,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,141,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at $2,035,000. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 226,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,935,000 after buying an additional 21,025 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 893,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,882,000 after acquiring an additional 67,613 shares during the period. Finally, Cambria Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. now owns 161,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,784,000 after acquiring an additional 12,621 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE:AGO opened at $78.98 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $84.88 and its 200 day moving average is $77.37. The firm has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $49.84 and a 52-week high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $4.57. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 53.82%. The firm had revenue of $233.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total value of $5,083,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,450,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.