Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday.

Several other analysts have also commented on AGO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Roth Capital downgraded shares of 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, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.33.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $76.14 on Friday. Assured Guaranty has a 1 year low of $72.76 and a 1 year high of $92.39. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a PE ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $80.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 37.34%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 209,388 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares in the company, valued at $30,096,591.98. This represents a 20.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 309.2% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 439 shares during 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.