Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Trims Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 588 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,723,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 100.6% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at $97,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of AGO opened at $85.52 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $90.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a PE ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $72.57 and a fifty-two week high of $96.50.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $199.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.56 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. As a group, analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.94%.

Assured Guaranty 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.