Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Stock Rating Raised to Buy at Roth Capital

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO – Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Roth Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $85.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. Roth Capital’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 24.40% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty from $101.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Assured Guaranty from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. UBS Group set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Assured Guaranty in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assured Guaranty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.00.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE AGO opened at $68.33 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $76.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.98. Assured Guaranty has a 12-month low of $68.03 and a 12-month high of $92.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 0.73.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $195.00 million during the quarter. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 37.34% and a return on equity of 7.11%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty will post 6.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Guaranty Ltd Assured purchased 209,388 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $24.83 per share, with a total value of $5,199,104.04. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,212,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,096,591.98. This trade represents a 20.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 5.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter valued at about $463,926,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at $51,538,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,108,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 2nd quarter worth $23,025,000. Finally, Man Group plc acquired a new stake in Assured Guaranty in the 2nd quarter valued at about $13,439,000. 92.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assured Guaranty Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) is a Bermuda-based financial services company that provides financial guarantees and related credit enhancement products. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps support the repayment of debt issued by public-sector entities, infrastructure projects and other borrowers.

The company’s principal business is financial guaranty insurance, which generally protects investors against scheduled principal and interest payment defaults on insured obligations.

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Analyst Recommendations for Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO)

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