Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Price Target Cut to $103.00 by Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its price objective lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $108.00 to $103.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $82.15 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Assured Guaranty has a 1 year low of $74.09 and a 1 year high of $92.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 8.02 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $85.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.71.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.78. The firm had revenue of $277.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.The firm’s revenue was up 77.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.27 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total transaction of $65,282.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 5,269,690 shares in the company, valued at $75,409,263.90. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total transaction of $106,223.66. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $723,000.58. The trade was a 12.81% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 11,920 shares of company stock valued at $261,214 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,885,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $169,483,000 after purchasing an additional 42,311 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,464,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $131,589,000 after buying an additional 131,195 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,480,000 after buying an additional 132,351 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 8.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,929,000 after buying an additional 92,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 7.1% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,035,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,683,000 after buying an additional 69,020 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.