Analysts Set Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) Price Target at $92.33

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

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Roth Mkm downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a research 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 report on Monday, May 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Assured Guaranty from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 242,718 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.72 per share, with a total value of $5,999,988.96. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,002,718 shares in the company, valued at $24,787,188.96. This trade represents a 31.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $691,696.24. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 224,797 shares of company stock worth $17,999,537 in the last quarter. Insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 156.4% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 49,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,743,000 after acquiring an additional 30,208 shares in the last quarter. IMC Chicago LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at $1,446,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,145,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,929,000 after acquiring an additional 92,148 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 193,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,392,000 after acquiring an additional 13,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,333,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $112,840,000 after acquiring an additional 144,841 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO stock opened at $74.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 0.76. Assured Guaranty has a 52 week low of $72.76 and a 52 week high of $92.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $79.69 and a 200-day moving average of $84.61.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 40.45% and a return on equity of 6.98%. The business had revenue of $261.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.18 EPS. Assured Guaranty’s revenue was down 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given 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 2.1%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.45%.

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.