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

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F 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.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 25,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,889,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 22,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,676,000 after acquiring an additional 2,689 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at about $211,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $262,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 76,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,708,000 after acquiring an additional 9,452 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $134,099,662.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGO has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, April 1st.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 5.1 %

NYSE AGO traded up $3.99 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $82.41. The company had a trading volume of 69,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,686. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $49.84 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $84.73 and its 200 day moving average is $77.50. 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 company has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.42 and a beta of 1.14.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $245.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $194.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.