Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Share Price Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)’s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $82.69 and traded as high as $83.38. Assured Guaranty shares last traded at $82.2940, with a volume of 282,680 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Roth Capital cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.33.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.6%

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $77.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.The company had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 242,718 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $24.72 per share, with a total value of $5,999,988.96. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 1,002,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,787,188.96. This represents a 31.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $77,813.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AGO. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Assured Guaranty by 633.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the third quarter valued at $44,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth about $68,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.