UBS Group Increases Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Price Target to $87.00

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its price objective hoisted by UBS Group from $84.00 to $87.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. UBS Group’s target price indicates a potential upside of 0.49% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on AGO. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE AGO traded up $1.46 during trading on Thursday, hitting $86.58. 45,851 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 391,186. The business’s fifty day moving average is $79.23 and its 200 day moving average is $78.83. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $59.01 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.69 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

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

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 82.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,101,000 after purchasing an additional 299,658 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth about $25,554,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 37.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,322,000 after purchasing an additional 184,621 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 293.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,773,000 after purchasing an additional 94,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its position in Assured Guaranty by 7.8% during the third quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 977,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,751,000 after purchasing an additional 71,114 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Assured Guaranty

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.