Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Stock Rating Upgraded by Roth Capital

Key Points

• Roth Capital upgraded Assured Guaranty to “buy” from “neutral” and set an $85 price target, implying 24.4% upside from the reported $68.33 share price.
• Analyst sentiment is generally positive: three analysts rate the stock a Buy and two rate it a Hold, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $91.
• Assured Guaranty reported quarterly earnings of $1.23 per share on $195 million in revenue, while institutional investors own 92.22% of the company and insiders own 5.70%.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Roth Capital from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $85.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock. Roth Capital's price target indicates a potential upside of 24.40% from the company's current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. UBS Group set a $91.00 target price on Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $91.00.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $68.33 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 0.73. Assured Guaranty has a 52-week low of $68.03 and a 52-week high of $92.39. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $76.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.98.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 37.34%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 209,388 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares in the company, valued at $30,096,591.98. The trade was a 20.88% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth $463,926,000. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,885,863 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $169,483,000 after buying an additional 42,311 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $113,480,000 after buying an additional 132,351 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,538,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 32.9% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 499,347 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $40,687,000 after buying an additional 123,672 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd. NYSE: AGO is a Bermuda-based financial services company that provides financial guarantees and related credit enhancement products. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps support the repayment of debt issued by public-sector entities, infrastructure projects and other borrowers.

The company's principal business is financial guaranty insurance, which generally protects investors against scheduled principal and interest payment defaults on insured obligations.

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