Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Price Target Lowered to $103.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $108.00 to $103.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 26.69% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

AGO stock traded down $1.21 during trading on Thursday, reaching $81.30. 101,757 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 284,558. The company has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.94 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average of $85.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.74. Assured Guaranty has a twelve month low of $74.09 and a twelve month high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.78. The firm had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.31% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The company’s revenue was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total value of $65,282.22. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,269,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,409,263.90. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,000.58. The trade was a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,920 shares of company stock valued at $261,214. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3,391.7% during the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Assured Guaranty

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.