Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)’s share price hit 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 trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $73.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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 report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.33.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.2%

The firm has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of 9.74 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $79.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.28.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. On average, analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 209,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth $23,025,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth about $51,538,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its position 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 valued at $113,480,000 after buying an additional 132,351 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 138.3% in the fourth quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 31,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 18,250 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 55.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 40,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,299,000 after buying an additional 14,361 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.