Wall Street Zen Upgrades Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) to Hold

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from “sell” to “hold,” while analysts’ consensus remains “Hold” with an average price target of $90.33.
• Assured Guaranty opened at $76.68, below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, with a market capitalization of $3.37 billion and a 52-week range of $72.76 to $92.39.
• The company reported quarterly earnings of $1.23 per share on $195 million in revenue, while institutional investors own a substantial 92.22% of outstanding shares.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on AGO. 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 report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Roth Capital lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $90.33.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO opened at $76.68 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.63. Assured Guaranty has a 1-year low of $72.76 and a 1-year high of $92.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share 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 analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 209,388 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was purchased 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 in the company, valued at approximately $30,096,591.98. This trade represents a 20.88% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,307 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $691,696.24. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 5.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. IMC Chicago LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth $1,446,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 156.4% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 49,522 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,743,000 after purchasing an additional 30,208 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth about $51,538,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $113,480,000 after purchasing an additional 132,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 138.3% during the 4th quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 31,450 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 18,250 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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