StockNews.com Upgrades Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) to “Hold”

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $87.00 to $92.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Assured Guaranty from $102.00 to $84.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:AGO opened at $77.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $78.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. Assured Guaranty has a 52 week low of $56.77 and a 52 week high of $96.60.

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

Insider Transactions at Assured Guaranty

In related news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was 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 owns 1,410,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,213,570.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter worth about $46,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 55.7% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.