Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 977 Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 977 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Assured Guaranty worth $2,448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 108,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,159 shares in the last quarter. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,141,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $957,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares in the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at about $358,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,035,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.8 %

AGO stock opened at $77.88 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.37. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $49.84 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.28 and a beta of 1.12.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $4.57. The firm had revenue of $233.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.15 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 53.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total value of $5,083,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,099,662.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

About Assured Guaranty

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.