Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Price Target to $103.00

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its price target trimmed by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $108.00 to $103.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.50.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $80.83 on Thursday. Assured Guaranty has a 52-week low of $74.09 and a 52-week high of $92.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.73.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.78. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.77% and a net margin of 45.31%.The firm had revenue of $277.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 77.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 14.84%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other news, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $106,223.66. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,000.58. This represents a 12.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured sold 4,562 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.31, for a total value of $65,282.22. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,269,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,409,263.90. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 11,920 shares of company stock valued at $261,214 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 3,391.7% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 633.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.