Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Analyst Says

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its price objective boosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $92.00 to $105.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGO opened at $92.11 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.16 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $84.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Assured Guaranty has a fifty-two week low of $66.56 and a fifty-two week high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The company had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total value of $2,480,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This represents a 15.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter worth about $31,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Assured Guaranty by 183.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. 92.22% of the stock is 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.