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

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its target price increased by UBS Group from $84.00 to $87.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

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

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of AGO stock opened at $86.77 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Assured Guaranty has a 12-month low of $59.01 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.70 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $79.74 and its 200 day moving average is $78.85.

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

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.58%.

Insider Activity

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of Assured Guaranty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were 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 $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted 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 valued at $77,751,000 after purchasing an additional 71,114 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 678,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,322,000 after buying an additional 184,621 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Assured Guaranty by 82.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 662,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,101,000 after buying an additional 299,658 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth $25,554,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Assured Guaranty by 2.3% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 285,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,002,000 after buying an additional 6,316 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

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.