VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Buys 18,250 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 138.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 31,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,250 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $2,826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,080.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 476.1% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at $68,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Roth Mkm cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on 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 cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.33.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 29,998 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $2,442,137.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,264,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,926,255.95. This represents a 2.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $723,000.58. This trade represents a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 224,969 shares of company stock worth $18,027,948. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $76.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $82.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.47. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $74.18 and a one year high of $92.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74 and a beta of 0.81.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued 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. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The firm had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

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