19,200 Shares in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO Purchased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 19,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,564,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 87.5% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 135,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,019,000 after buying an additional 63,111 shares during the last quarter. Evolve Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Evolve Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 33.2% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 24,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,223,000 after acquiring an additional 5,309 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 5,435.5% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Roth Mkm cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 242,718 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.72 per share, with a total value of $5,999,988.96. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,002,718 shares in the company, valued at $24,787,188.96. The trade was a 31.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $81.36 on Thursday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52-week low of $72.76 and a 52-week high of $92.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $77.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.18 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.45%.

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.