UBS Group Raises Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Price Target to $95.00

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its price objective upped by UBS Group from $87.00 to $95.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. UBS Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 2.89% from the stock’s previous close.

AGO has been the subject of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of AGO stock traded up $1.31 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $92.33. 107,573 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 381,510. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.78. Assured Guaranty has a 12-month low of $65.39 and a 12-month high of $96.60. The stock has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.17 and a beta of 1.10.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In related news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total value of $286,948.27. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,423,321.19. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AGO. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 1st quarter worth $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% in 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, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in Assured Guaranty during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by 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.