Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Stock Has Average Target Price of $91.00 According to Brokerages

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $91.00.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AGO. UBS Group set a $91.00 price target on Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Roth Capital raised Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $85.00 in a report on Friday, September 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured bought 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, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,096,591.98. This represents a 20.88% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 5.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 22.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 23.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 82.8% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 8.3% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 14.1% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,949 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 0.2%

AGO opened at $69.91 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $73.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.32 and a beta of 0.73. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $67.24 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.64.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) is a Bermuda-based holding company that provides financial guarantees and related insurance services through its subsidiaries. The company helps protect investors and lenders from losses arising from defaults on debt obligations, with a primary focus on public finance and structured finance markets.

Its public finance business provides guarantees for municipal bonds and other obligations issued to fund essential infrastructure and public services, including transportation, utilities, healthcare and education.