Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Sets New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?
by Teresa Graham · The Cerbat GemAssured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO – Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $76.30 and last traded at $77.0380, with a volume of 116098 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.43.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
AGO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Roth Mkm downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.33.
Check Out Our Latest Report on AGO
Assured Guaranty Trading Down 8.2%
The firm has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.41 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $83.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.67. 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 (NYSE:AGO – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. The business had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.18 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 6.85 EPS for the current year.
Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.84%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 242,718 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $24.72 per share, for a total transaction of $5,999,988.96. Following the purchase, the insider owned 1,002,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,787,188.96. This represents a 31.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66. Following the sale, the director owned 8,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,000.58. This trade represents a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 174,969 shares of company stock worth $14,096,948. 5.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty
Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 218.1% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 162,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,765,000 after acquiring an additional 111,498 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 8.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,929,000 after acquiring an additional 92,148 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 30,208 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 12.2% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $112,840,000 after acquiring an additional 144,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 204.5% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,820,000 after acquiring an additional 22,924 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.