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

by · The Markets Daily

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGOFree Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.50.

Check Out Our Latest Report on AGO

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

AGO opened at $83.32 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.14 and a beta of 0.93. Assured Guaranty has a 12-month low of $78.77 and a 12-month high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGOGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.78. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.The firm had revenue of $277.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.83 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 77.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Assured Guaranty will post 6.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is 14.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Francisco L. Borges sold 123,750 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.22, for a total value of $9,927,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 176,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,195,089.44. This trade represents a 41.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 180,073 shares of company stock valued at $14,169,982 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AGO. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 61.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,198,000 after buying an additional 22,486 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,024,000 after buying an additional 16,235 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 99.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth about $553,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Assured Guaranty

(Get Free Report)

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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