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

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 67.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,838 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 2.8% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 13,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $634,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth $1,564,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 87.5% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 135,233 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,019,000 after purchasing an additional 63,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evolve Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Evolve Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $744,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the sale, the director owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $691,696.24. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total value of $3,931,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 256,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,146,453.62. This trade represents a 16.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE:AGO opened at $83.71 on Tuesday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $72.76 and a 12-month high of $92.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.61 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.58.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.18 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AGO. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Roth Capital lowered Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.33.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.