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

Strs Ohio decreased its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,847 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $4,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 106.0% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 651 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 28.7% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the business’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 value 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 $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AGO shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, April 1st.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO opened at $76.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $86.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.72. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $49.84 and a 12-month high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $4.57. The company had revenue of $233.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $196.15 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 53.82% and a return on equity of 11.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. 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.