Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Shares Sold by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Public Sector Pension Investment Board trimmed its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 104,898 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 8,900 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned about 0.20% of Assured Guaranty worth $8,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Planning grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 1.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,140 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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 worth $90,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.7% during the second quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.7% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, 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 this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 currently owned by company insiders.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of AGO stock traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $93.28. 124,634 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 378,091. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $67.25 and a 1 year high of $96.60. 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 $4.75 billion, a PE ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 1.10. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $85.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.73.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. Assured Guaranty's revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. Research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

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.