Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Upgraded by Zacks Research to Hold Rating

Key Points

• Zacks Research has upgraded Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) from a "strong sell" to a "hold" rating.
• Assured Guaranty reported earnings of $1.01 per share, missing the consensus estimate of $1.57, despite a 39.1% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• CEO Dominic Frederico and COO Robert Bailenson recently sold substantial shares of the company, decreasing their ownership stake by 1.90% and 12.06%, respectively.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Assured Guaranty from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of AGO stock opened at $82.50 on Tuesday. Assured Guaranty has a 1-year low of $74.09 and a 1-year high of $96.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $82.79 and a 200-day moving average of $84.22.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by ($0.56). The firm had revenue of $281.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $203.91 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 44.53% and a return on equity of 7.18%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $2,095,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,287,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at $107,956,525.49. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.51, for a total value of $3,260,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 291,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,778,749.28. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.2% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,827 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $513,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 4,238 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 7,219 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $629,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 17.8% in the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 927 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,742 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 150 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., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The company offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments.

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