Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Receives $90.33 Average PT from Brokerages

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $90.3333.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Roth Capital lowered Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of AGO opened at $74.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day moving average of $80.48 and a 200 day moving average of $81.29. The company has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 0.75. Assured Guaranty has a 52-week low of $72.76 and a 52-week high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The business had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $691,696.24. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 209,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.83 per share, with a total value 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 5.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 61.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,198,000 after acquiring an additional 22,486 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.3% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,024,000 after acquiring an additional 16,235 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.9% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 99.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth approximately $553,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

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.