Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their target price on Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $81.84 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Assured Guaranty has a 52-week low of $74.09 and a 52-week high of $96.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.18. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 0.92.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57 by ($0.56). Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The company had revenue of $281.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $203.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.03%.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $2,095,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,287,803 shares in the company, valued at $107,956,525.49. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total value of $3,260,400.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 291,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,778,749.28. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 27.6% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 17.8% in the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at about $104,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

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.