Public Sector Pension Investment Board Raises Stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 113,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,382 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned approximately 0.21% of Assured Guaranty worth $8,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AGO. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth about $46,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 55.7% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 24.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 535.9% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,656 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE AGO opened at $81.06 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.76. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $58.27 and a 52 week high of $96.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.26 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. The business had revenue of $202.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.05 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.58%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $2,480,310.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th.

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.