Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Receives $92.33 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $92.3333.

A number of research firms have commented on AGO. Roth Mkm cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of AGO stock opened at $81.36 on Friday. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $72.76 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $77.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.18 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 17.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 242,718 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.72 per share, for a total transaction of $5,999,988.96. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,002,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,787,188.96. The trade was a 31.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total value of $3,931,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 256,251 shares in the company, valued at $20,146,453.62. This represents a 16.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $68,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 99.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.