Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $2.04 Million Investment in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 27,200 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,035,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AGO. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 106.0% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 651 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 28.7% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,117 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AGO traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $76.26. 543,924 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 378,579. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.12. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $49.84 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $86.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $4.57. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 53.82% and a return on equity of 11.82%. The business had revenue of $233.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. The business's revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is presently 10.00%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total value of $5,083,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,450,824 shares in the company, valued at $134,099,662.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGO has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $92.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, April 1st.

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.