StockNews.com Downgrades Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) to Sell

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

AGO has been the subject of several other research reports. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

AGO stock traded down $0.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $86.81. 214,187 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 391,429. Assured Guaranty has a 52 week low of $59.01 and a 52 week high of $96.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.70 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 61.17% and a return on equity of 13.19%. The business’s revenue was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 6.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $2,480,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,308,000 after purchasing an additional 57,928 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 279.2% during the 1st quarter. Wealthstar Advisors LLC now owns 15,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after acquiring an additional 11,358 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 42.7% during the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 24,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 7,222 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $885,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $861,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

Assured Guaranty Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The company offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments.