Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 169 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 0.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 24,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 169 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $2,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealthstar Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 279.2% in the 1st quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 15,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,346,000 after buying an additional 11,358 shares during the period. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at $267,000. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at $1,306,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at $596,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter valued at $182,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $87.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total transaction of $3,124,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total value of $3,124,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,213,570.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 30,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.94, for a total transaction of $2,398,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 304,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,368,509.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 73,901 shares of company stock valued at $5,834,807. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE:AGO traded down $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $77.27. The stock had a trading volume of 29,549 shares, compared to its average volume of 403,878. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $54.63 and a one year high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.48.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.55. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 57.45% and a return on equity of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $245.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $194.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 9.58%.

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.