Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Price Target Lowered to $101.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its price objective lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $103.00 to $101.00 in a research report report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on AGO. Weiss Ratings raised Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Roth Capital cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.67.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.8%

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $84.83 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Assured Guaranty has a 1-year low of $72.76 and a 1-year high of $92.39. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.44. The company has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.74 and a beta of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.45% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The firm had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 17.45%.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 242,718 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.72 per share, for a total transaction of $5,999,988.96. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 1,002,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,787,188.96. This trade represents a 31.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $691,696.24. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 5.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at $44,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 309.2% in the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at about $68,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.