Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $92.3333.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AGO. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, 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 research note on Friday, May 8th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE AGO opened at $76.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $82.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.47. The company has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74 and a beta of 0.81. Assured Guaranty has a 12 month low of $74.18 and a 12 month high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The firm had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.18 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. 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, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total transaction of $3,931,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 256,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,146,453.62. The trade was a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $723,000.58. The trade was a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 224,969 shares of company stock valued at $18,027,948 in the last quarter. Insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at $51,538,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 176.3% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 366,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,935,000 after purchasing an additional 233,966 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 261.9% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 142,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,830,000 after purchasing an additional 230,920 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 60.7% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 481,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,957,000 after purchasing an additional 182,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $112,840,000 after purchasing an additional 144,841 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

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.