Assured Guaranty’s (AGO) Buy Rating Reiterated at Roth Mkm

Roth Mkm reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Roth Mkm currently has a $110.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assured Guaranty from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $81.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Assured Guaranty has a 1 year low of $55.24 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.26 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.69.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $245.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $194.78 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 57.45% and a return on equity of 12.48%. The company’s revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.58%.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total transaction of $3,124,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Laura Bieling sold 3,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total transaction of $311,806.93. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 16,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,281,757.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total value of $3,124,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at $110,213,570.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 73,901 shares of company stock valued at $5,834,807 in the last ninety days. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.5% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 55.7% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth about $35,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty Company 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.