State of Alaska Department of Revenue Acquires 16,869 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 55.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 47,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,869 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $3,754,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth approximately $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 155.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of AGO opened at $85.66 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $80.99 and its 200 day moving average is $78.94. The company has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 1.11. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 12-month low of $61.83 and a 12-month 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.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $202.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of 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 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.