UBS Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Stock

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) had its price target lifted by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $87.00 to $95.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. UBS Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 3.77% from the company’s current price.

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

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of AGO opened at $91.55 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of 7.11 and a beta of 1.10. Assured Guaranty has a 12 month low of $65.39 and a 12 month high of $96.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $1.00. The business had revenue of $269.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.57 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 70.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Assured Guaranty

In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,593.05. This trade represents a 15.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGO. TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 6.8% during the third quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 19,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 214.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,980,000 after buying an additional 16,956 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,595,000. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 11,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 35.4% during the third quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd now owns 7,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,874 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.