Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

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

Several research analysts have commented on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Roth Mkm lowered 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. UBS Group raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

NYSE:AGO opened at $83.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 0.75. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.99. Assured Guaranty has a 1 year low of $72.76 and a 1 year high of $92.39.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $261.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 242,718 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.72 per share, with a total value of $5,999,988.96. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 1,002,718 shares in the company, valued at $24,787,188.96. This represents a 31.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $691,696.24. The trade was 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 Trading of Assured Guaranty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 61.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 59,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,198,000 after purchasing an additional 22,486 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 7.3% during 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 buying an additional 16,235 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 3,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 433 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter valued at about $553,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.