Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Reaches New 1-Year Low - Here's Why

Key Points

• Assured Guaranty shares hit a new 52-week low, trading as low as $72.25, well below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $79.83 and $80.28.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: UBS upgraded the stock to “buy,” while others maintained or moved to “hold” ratings. The consensus rating is Hold, with an average price target of $90.33.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $1.23 on $195 million in revenue and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, yielding approximately 2.1%. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the stock.

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $72.25 and last traded at $72.3340, with a volume of 11660 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $73.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $90.33.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

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 fifty day moving average price of $79.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.28. The company has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.74 and a beta of 0.73.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 209,388 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,096,591.98. This trade represents a 20.88% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 568.4% in 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 period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 856.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 21,363 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth approximately $2,818,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 7,687.3% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,862,750 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $309,638,000 after purchasing an additional 3,813,147 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Assured Guaranty

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.

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