Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.07 EPS

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.07), Zacks reports. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Assured Guaranty stock opened at $92.28 on Friday. Assured Guaranty has a 12-month low of $72.57 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $91.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.45. The stock has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a PE ratio of 7.17 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This is a boost from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is currently 10.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on AGO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group raised their price target on Assured Guaranty from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.