Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on AGO. Roth Mkm reiterated a buy rating and set a $110.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $78.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.85. Assured Guaranty has a 12-month low of $57.52 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 57.45%. The company had revenue of $202.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Assured Guaranty will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 9.58%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other news, 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 transaction of $3,124,800.00. Following 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.5% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Sage Rhino Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 2,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.7% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $466,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,732,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.