Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning.

Separately, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of AGO stock opened at $88.95 on Wednesday. Assured Guaranty has a 1 year low of $65.39 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.68 billion, a PE ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $82.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The business had revenue of $269.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 6.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.63%.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 42.7% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 24,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 7,222 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth approximately $861,000. TCW Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,389,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 293.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 126,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,773,000 after acquiring an additional 94,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 63.1% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 52,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,064,000 after acquiring an additional 20,380 shares during the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.