Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 739 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 739 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 63.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 406,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,631,000 after purchasing an additional 158,638 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 893,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,882,000 after buying an additional 67,613 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 27.4% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 273,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,546,000 after acquiring an additional 58,873 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,039,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at $2,035,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total transaction of $5,083,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group raised their target price 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 Price Performance

Shares of AGO stock traded up $3.99 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $82.41. 69,589 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 387,686. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $49.84 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.50. The company has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.14.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.55. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 53.82%. The firm had revenue of $245.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $194.78 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend yield of 1.50%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 10.00%.

About Assured Guaranty

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.