State of Alaska Department of Revenue Trims Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 44.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 24,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,375 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $2,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 218.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 162,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,765,000 after buying an additional 111,498 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,929,000 after purchasing an additional 92,148 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $112,840,000 after purchasing an additional 144,841 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 204.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,820,000 after purchasing an additional 22,924 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 193,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,392,000 after purchasing an additional 13,575 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 2.2%

AGO opened at $84.81 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $84.10 and its 200-day moving average is $85.60. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $78.77 and a 52-week high of $92.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.78. The company had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.31% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 14.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.50.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 29,998 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $2,442,137.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,264,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,926,255.95. The trade was a 2.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Francisco L. Borges sold 123,750 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.22, for a total transaction of $9,927,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 176,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,195,089.44. This represents a 41.15% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 180,073 shares of company stock worth $14,169,982 over the last three months. 5.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.