Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Acquired by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 55.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,223 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 16,869 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue owned 0.09% of Assured Guaranty worth $3,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at approximately $233,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 57,928 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 39.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,708 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth about $885,000. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.4% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 47,573 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,151,000 after acquiring an additional 638 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com cut Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 2.6 %

AGO stock traded down $2.23 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $83.46. 320,570 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 384,416. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a one year low of $61.83 and a one year high of $96.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $81.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.99.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. Assured Guaranty's revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the business'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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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 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.