Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Sold by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio lessened its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,847 shares during the period. Strs Ohio owned 0.10% of Assured Guaranty worth $4,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth about $358,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,035,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 2,561 shares in the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at about $237,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $76.26 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.72. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1-year low of $49.84 and a 1-year high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.12.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $4.57. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 53.82% and a return on equity of 11.82%. The business had revenue of $233.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,450,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.