Analysts Set Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Price Target at $90.33

Shares of Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $89.3333.

AGO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. UBS Group set a $91.00 price target on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE:AGO opened at $71.39 on Thursday. Assured Guaranty has a 1 year low of $70.59 and a 1 year high of $92.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $78.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 0.73.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 37.34%.The company had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter. As a group, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 1,212,106 shares in the company, valued at $30,096,591.98. This trade represents a 20.88% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $836,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.8% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 13,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 367 shares during the period. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 309.2% during the second 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. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.