Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Price Target to $101.00

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $103.00 to $101.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 19.06% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on AGO. UBS Group upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock 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 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Three investment 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, Assured Guaranty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.67.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 0.8%

AGO stock opened at $84.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.74 and a beta of 0.75. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $72.76 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $78.20 and a 200-day moving average of $82.44.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $1.00. The business had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.63 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 6.98% and a net margin of 40.45%.Assured Guaranty’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.18 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the 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 sale, the director owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $691,696.24. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert Bailenson sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.62, for a total transaction of $3,931,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 256,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,146,453.62. This represents a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 61.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,198,000 after acquiring an additional 22,486 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 238,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,024,000 after purchasing an additional 16,235 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 99.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth about $553,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.