New York State Teachers Retirement System Trims Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. $AGO

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 19.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,596 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,607,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,305,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 70,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,222,000 after acquiring an additional 20,779 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth $2,552,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at about $624,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $81.55 on Thursday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $74.09 and a 12-month high of $96.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $82.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 0.92.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.56). The firm had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.91 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AGO shares. Zacks Research upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total value of $2,095,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,287,803 shares in the company, valued at $107,956,525.49. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 6,258 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.90, for a total value of $105,760.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,282,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,282,598.60. This trade represents a 0.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 79,089 shares of company stock valued at $5,599,792. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

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.