Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Stock Position Raised by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 4.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,085 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $2,029,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AGO. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $326,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $60,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 926,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at $53,026,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AGO. StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $91.02 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $65.39 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The firm has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The business had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.63%.

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.