Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Takes Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 20,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,595,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 11,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd now owns 7,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $569,000 after buying an additional 1,874 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth $748,000. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 13,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after buying an additional 3,191 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 61.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 9,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $722,000 after buying an additional 3,443 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, 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 transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of AGO stock opened at $85.77 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $88.36 and a 200 day moving average of $82.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $71.88 and a twelve month high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 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 company had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.42 earnings per share. Assured Guaranty’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGO has been the subject of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

About Assured Guaranty

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.