Strs Ohio Sells 26,032 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

Strs Ohio cut its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 96.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,032 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $96,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 12.2% in the third 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 8.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,929,000 after acquiring an additional 92,148 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 7.1% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,035,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,683,000 after acquiring an additional 69,020 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 25.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 540,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,779,000 after acquiring an additional 108,280 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 6.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 511,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,337,000 after acquiring an additional 30,243 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Roth Mkm cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.33.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of AGO opened at $77.01 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.84 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.63. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $74.18 and a 52 week high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. The business had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.45% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.18 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total transaction of $3,931,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 256,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,146,453.62. This represents a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total transaction of $106,223.66. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,000.58. This represents a 12.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 224,969 shares of company stock valued at $18,027,948 in the last three months. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

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.