Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Price Target Lowered to $97.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its price target decreased by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $101.00 to $97.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 27.35% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Assured Guaranty from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. UBS Group raised shares of Assured Guaranty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Roth Capital downgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assured Guaranty currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.33.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

Shares of AGO traded up $1.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $76.17. 18,188 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 349,894. Assured Guaranty has a 52 week low of $72.76 and a 52 week high of $92.39. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $195.00 million for the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 37.34%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 6.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 22nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $24.83 per share, for a total transaction of $5,199,104.04. Following the purchase, the insider owned 1,212,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,096,591.98. This trade represents a 20.88% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lorin Radtke sold 1,047 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $77,813.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $691,696.24. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 5.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGO. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $463,926,000. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,885,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $169,483,000 after buying an additional 42,311 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,464,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $131,589,000 after buying an additional 131,195 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,262,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,480,000 after buying an additional 132,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the fourth quarter worth $51,538,000. 92.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd is a Bermuda-domiciled provider of financial guaranty insurance and reinsurance products serving public finance, infrastructure and structured finance markets. The company’s primary business activity is credit enhancement, whereby it guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on debt obligations issued by municipal and infrastructure entities. By combining rigorous risk assessment with active portfolio management, Assured Guaranty helps issuers access capital at more attractive rates while protecting investors against credit events.

In its public finance segment, the company underwrites municipal bond insurance for state and local governments, public-private partnerships and essential infrastructure projects.