Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Hits New 52-Week Low - What's Next?

Key Points

• Assured Guaranty shares fell to a new 52-week low of $67.92, below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, giving the company a market capitalization of approximately $2.99 billion.
• Despite the decline, analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $91.00; recent ratings included upgrades from Roth Capital and Wall Street Zen.
• The company reported $1.23 in quarterly EPS on $195 million in revenue and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.38, equivalent to a 2.2% annualized yield. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the stock.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as low as $67.92 and last traded at $67.9680, with a volume of 78716 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $68.97.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group set a $91.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $91.00.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $76.04 and a 200 day moving average of $78.64.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The company had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. On average, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were paid 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 yield of 2.2%. Assured Guaranty's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 209,388 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,212,106 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,096,591.98. The trade was a 20.88% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 5.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 8.3% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,577 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,088,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,728 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,949 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 568.4% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 36,943 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,961,000 after acquiring an additional 31,416 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 856.5% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 75,842 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,079,000 after acquiring an additional 67,913 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 37.8% during 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company's stock.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd. NYSE: AGO is a Bermuda-based financial services company that provides financial guarantees and related credit enhancement products. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps support the repayment of debt issued by public-sector entities, infrastructure projects and other borrowers.

The company's principal business is financial guaranty insurance, which generally protects investors against scheduled principal and interest payment defaults on insured obligations.

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.