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

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on AGO. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $103.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Roth Capital cut Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.67.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 8.7%

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $75.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a PE ratio of 10.06 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.90. Assured Guaranty has a twelve month low of $72.76 and a twelve month high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.07%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 17.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total transaction of $77,813.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $691,696.24. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 209,388 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the purchase, the insider owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,096,591.98. The trade was a 20.88% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company 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 AGO. IMC Chicago LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,446,000. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 156.4% during the 4th 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. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,538,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,480,000 after purchasing an additional 132,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 18,250 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assured Guaranty News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Assured Guaranty this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Assured Guaranty declared a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, payable September 3 to shareholders of record August 20. The dividend represents an annualized yield of approximately 1.8%, providing ongoing shareholder income. Assured Guaranty dividend announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: The company posted updated investor materials and disclosures on August 7. No specific financial change or new guidance was identified in the announcement, so the immediate stock impact appears limited. Updated investor materials and disclosures
• Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter earnings were $1.23 per share, below consensus estimates ranging from $1.51 to $1.66. Although EPS increased from $1.01 a year earlier, the earnings miss is likely weighing on investor sentiment. Assured Guaranty Q2 earnings miss
• Negative Sentiment: Quarterly revenue was $195 million, below the approximately $205 million consensus estimate and down 30.6% year over year. The revenue shortfall, combined with the EPS miss, is the primary catalyst behind the stock’s decline. Assured Guaranty Q2 earnings snapshot Assured Guaranty revenue estimate miss

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.