Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on AGO. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $84.81 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Assured Guaranty has a 12 month low of $78.77 and a 12 month high of $92.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $84.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.61.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.78. The firm had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total transaction of $106,223.66. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,000.58. The trade was a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 29,998 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $2,442,137.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,264,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,926,255.95. This trade represents a 2.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 180,073 shares of company stock worth $14,169,982 in the last three months. Insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 3,391.7% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 633.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.