Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Upgraded at Roth Capital

Roth Capital upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. Roth Capital currently has $85.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $80.00.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, UBS Group set a $91.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, September 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.00.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of Assured Guaranty stock opened at $69.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 0.73. Assured Guaranty has a one year low of $68.03 and a one year high of $92.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.86. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured acquired 209,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 5.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 309.2% during the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth approximately $72,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) is a Bermuda-based financial services company that provides financial guarantees and related credit enhancement products. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps support the repayment of debt issued by public-sector entities, infrastructure projects and other borrowers.

The company’s principal business is financial guaranty insurance, which generally protects investors against scheduled principal and interest payment defaults on insured obligations.