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

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its target price cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $103.00 to $101.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

AGO has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Roth Capital downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.67.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

NYSE:AGO opened at $84.83 on Friday. Assured Guaranty has a 12 month low of $72.76 and a 12 month high of $92.39. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a PE ratio of 9.74 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $78.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.38.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 17.45%.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Assured Guaranty by 633.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 309.2% during the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at $68,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.