Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $72.25 and last traded at $72.3340, with a volume of 11660 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. 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 research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.33.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $79.43 and a 200-day moving average of $80.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.75 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The firm had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,096,591.98. The trade was a 20.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,025,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at $51,538,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,480,000 after acquiring an additional 132,351 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 138.3% during the 4th quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 31,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 18,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 55.0% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 40,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,299,000 after acquiring an additional 14,361 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.