California Public Employees Retirement System Buys 2,159 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 108,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,159 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $8,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AGO. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 547.9% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 642,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,881,000 after purchasing an additional 543,291 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 63.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 406,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,631,000 after purchasing an additional 158,638 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 67,613 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased 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 worth $16,546,000 after purchasing an additional 58,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,039,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total transaction of $5,083,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $77.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.28 and a beta of 1.14. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $49.84 and a one 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.05.

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

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 10.00%.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.