Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Receives $90.33 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the five analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $90.3333.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AGO. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Roth Capital lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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 report on Thursday, August 13th.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

AGO stock opened at $74.30 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $80.52 and a 200-day moving average of $81.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Assured Guaranty has a 12 month low of $72.76 and a 12 month high of $92.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 0.75.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The business had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Assured Guaranty will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the sale, the director directly owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,212,106 shares in the company, valued at $30,096,591.98. This trade represents a 20.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth $27,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 633.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 309.2% in the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

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.