New York State Teachers Retirement System Trims Stock Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,272 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 977,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,751,000 after purchasing an additional 71,114 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,322,000 after purchasing an additional 184,621 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 82.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,101,000 after purchasing an additional 299,658 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,554,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 285,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,002,000 after purchasing an additional 6,316 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AGO. UBS Group boosted their target price on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com cut Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE:AGO opened at $87.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $82.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.32. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $64.59 and a 52 week high of $96.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.12 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The company 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 firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now owns 19,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $2,480,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.