Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.31 EPS

Key Points

• Assured Guaranty reported quarterly EPS of $1.94, beating the $1.63 consensus by $0.31; revenue of $214 million also topped expectations of $205.7 million. EPS was down from $2.57 in the same quarter last year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, equivalent to $1.52 annually and a 2.1% yield.
• Analysts’ average rating is Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $91; shares rose $1.77 to $73.53 on Friday.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.31, FiscalAI reports. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The business had revenue of $214.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $205.70 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.57 EPS.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock traded up $1.77 during trading on Friday, reaching $73.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 505,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 355,128. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 0.65. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $67.24 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $70.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.71.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 18th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group set a $91.00 target price on Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $91.00.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd. NYSE: AGO is a Bermuda-based financial services company that provides credit protection products through its operating insurance subsidiaries. The company's core business is financial guaranty insurance, which generally guarantees the payment of scheduled principal and interest on debt obligations if the issuer or borrower defaults.

Assured Guaranty primarily serves the public finance and infrastructure markets. Its guarantees support municipal bonds and other public-sector debt, as well as obligations related to transportation, utilities, social infrastructure and other essential-service projects.

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