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

Key Points

• Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating on Assured Guaranty, with three holds and two buys. The average 12-month price target is $90.33, above the reported share price of $72.18.
• Assured Guaranty reported quarterly EPS of $1.23 on $195 million in revenue, while analysts expect full-year EPS of $6.91. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.38, representing a 2.1% annualized yield.
• Institutional investors own 92.22% of the stock, and an insider recently increased their position by purchasing 209,388 shares. AGO shares were near their 52-week low and had declined 1.1%.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the five analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $90.3333.

A number of research firms have issued reports on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price 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, August 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. UBS Group raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 1.1%

AGO opened at $72.18 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a PE ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.64. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $72.13 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $79.64 and a 200-day moving average of $80.18.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter. Equities research analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 6.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Assured Guaranty's payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 209,388 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 1,212,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,096,591.98. The trade was a 20.88% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,577 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,088,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,728 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,949 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 568.4% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 36,943 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,961,000 after acquiring an additional 31,416 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 856.5% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 75,842 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,079,000 after acquiring an additional 67,913 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 37.8% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 77,873 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,242,000 after purchasing an additional 21,363 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.