Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Decreases Position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp decreased its stake in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 186 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at $50,447,000. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 67.4% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,116,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,463,000 after purchasing an additional 449,310 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter worth about $28,060,000. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 46.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 806,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,904,000 after buying an additional 254,063 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 236.5% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 168,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,134,000 after buying an additional 118,170 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 7.0 %

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $82.69 on Thursday. 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 $4.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $87.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $199.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.56 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.94%.

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.