Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Wall Street sentiment is mixed: Assured Guaranty has a consensus Hold rating from five analysts, with three holds and two buys. The average 1-year price target is about $92.33.
• Recent results beat expectations: The company reported $2.50 EPS for the latest quarter, topping estimates by $1.00, and revenue of $261 million versus expectations of $208.63 million. However, revenue was still down 24.3% year over year.
• The stock remains supported by a dividend and insider/institutional activity: Assured Guaranty pays a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share for a 1.9% yield, while insiders recently made both notable purchases and sales. Institutional investors hold the vast majority of shares, at 92.22%.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the five analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $92.3333.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Roth Mkm downgraded 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. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $79.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $78.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.23. Assured Guaranty has a one year low of $72.76 and a one year high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The firm had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $208.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.18 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is 17.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 242,718 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.72 per share, for a total transaction of $5,999,988.96. Following the purchase, the insider owned 1,002,718 shares in the company, valued at $24,787,188.96. This trade represents a 31.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the sale, the director owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $691,696.24. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 174,797 shares of company stock valued at $13,936,038 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 5.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes 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 valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 99.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company's stock.

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.

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