Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Assured Guaranty has a consensus “Hold” rating among five analysts, with three holds and two buys. The average 12-month price target is $90.33, compared with the stock’s reported price of $76.68.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $1.23 on $195 million in revenue, while analysts expect full-year EPS of approximately $6.88.
• Assured Guaranty declared a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, equivalent to $1.52 annually and a 2.0% yield. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company, while insiders own 5.70%.

Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the five research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $90.3333.

AGO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Capital cut Assured Guaranty from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at $691,696.24. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,096,591.98. The trade was a 20.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 309.2% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 439 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $76.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $80.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.61. Assured Guaranty has a twelve month low of $72.76 and a twelve month high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 37.34%.The company had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

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

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.

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