State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Cuts Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 27.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,454 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,308,000 after buying an additional 57,928 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 279.2% during the first quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 15,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after buying an additional 11,358 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 42.7% during the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 24,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after buying an additional 7,222 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter valued at approximately $885,000. Finally, Symmetry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter valued at approximately $908,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

AGO stock opened at $81.07 on Monday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $58.27 and a 52 week high of $96.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.26 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.58%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective 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.

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.