Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Decreases Stock Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina reduced its holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 610 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $1,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,060,000. Capula Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $299,000. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,109,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 459,471 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,357,000 after buying an additional 42,762 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 14,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,329,000 after buying an additional 496 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE AGO opened at $83.37 on Friday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 52 week low of $72.57 and a 52 week high of $96.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.48 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $86.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.95.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $199.56 million. On average, analysts predict that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.