Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

AGO has been the subject of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Assured Guaranty from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Roth Mkm reiterated 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 upped their price objective on Assured Guaranty from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th.

Assured Guaranty Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:AGO opened at $85.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business’s 50 day moving average is $79.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.83. Assured Guaranty has a 52 week low of $59.01 and a 52 week high of $96.60. The company has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 1.11.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $202.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.05 million. Assured Guaranty had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 61.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 43.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Assured Guaranty will post 6.3 EPS for the current year.

Assured Guaranty Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Assured Guaranty’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assured Guaranty

In other news, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.01, for a total transaction of $2,480,310.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,380,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Assured Guaranty news, Director Yukiko Omura sold 3,599 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.73, for a total transaction of $286,948.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,593.05. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Frederico sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was 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 owns 1,380,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,423,321.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assured Guaranty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGO. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Assured Guaranty by 24.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth approximately $182,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth $596,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth $1,306,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the first quarter worth $267,000. Institutional investors own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

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.