Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Price Target to $97.00

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its price objective lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $101.00 to $97.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Roth Capital cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assured Guaranty has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.33.

Assured Guaranty Price Performance

Shares of AGO stock opened at $76.68 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 0.75. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $72.76 and a fifty-two week high of $92.39. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $80.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.63 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. The firm had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 37.34%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the purchase, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $691,696.24. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $41,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Assured Guaranty by 309.2% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 439 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.