Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Rating Reiterated by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "market perform" rating restated by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $92.00 price objective on the financial services provider's stock, up from their prior price objective of $75.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price objective would suggest a potential upside of 7.56% from the stock's current price.

Separately, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $64.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Assured Guaranty stock traded down $1.72 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $85.53. 595,979 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 361,648. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $49.32 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The company has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.90 and a beta of 1.12. The firm's fifty day moving average is $86.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.08.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $5.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $4.57. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 53.82% and a return on equity of 11.82%. The business had revenue of $233.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. Assured Guaranty's revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.43, for a total transaction of $5,083,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,450,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $134,099,662.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 106.0% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 651 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.