Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) from a "hold" to a "sell" rating in a note to investors.
• The company beat quarterly estimates, reporting $2.32 EPS vs. $1.54 expected and $277M revenue vs. $205.8M expected, with revenue up 77.6% year-over-year.
• Insiders sold 180,073 shares (~$14.17M) over the last 90 days while institutional investors own about 92.22% of the stock.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $84.81 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average is $84.10 and its 200 day moving average is $85.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 0.93. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $78.77 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.78. The company had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 45.31% and a return on equity of 7.77%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In other news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 $723,000.58. This represents a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Francisco L. Borges sold 123,750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.22, for a total value of $9,927,225.00. Following the sale, the director owned 176,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,195,089.44. This represents a 41.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 180,073 shares of company stock valued at $14,169,982. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AGO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,538,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 176.3% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 366,644 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,935,000 after buying an additional 233,966 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 261.9% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 142,761 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $12,830,000 after buying an additional 230,920 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 60.7% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 481,707 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $41,957,000 after purchasing an additional 182,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $112,840,000 after purchasing an additional 144,841 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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