Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) PT Lowered to $84.00 at UBS Group

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its target price dropped by UBS Group from $102.00 to $84.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. UBS Group’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.35% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGO traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $74.11. The company had a trading volume of 34,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 395,260. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Assured Guaranty has a 1 year low of $56.77 and a 1 year high of $96.60. The company has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $78.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.37.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its earnings results 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. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 57.45%. The business had revenue of $202.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 43.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.12, for a total transaction of $3,124,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at $110,213,570.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter valued at $41,609,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the first quarter valued at about $25,554,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 184,621 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1,990.0% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 60,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,308,000 after purchasing an additional 57,928 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Assured Guaranty in the second quarter worth approximately $3,859,000. 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.