Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Reduces Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 356 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $919,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at $38,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 100.6% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth about $97,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.4 %

AGO stock opened at $88.33 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.65. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a twelve month low of $72.57 and a twelve month high of $96.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 6.86 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.07). Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The firm had revenue of $199.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.56 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 5th. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.94%.

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.