Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) Price Target Raised to $95.00

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at UBS Group from $87.00 to $95.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the financial services provider's stock. UBS Group's target price suggests a potential upside of 3.34% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Assured Guaranty from $92.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded Assured Guaranty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Assured Guaranty Stock Performance

AGO stock traded up $0.91 during trading on Monday, reaching $91.93. The company had a trading volume of 293,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 382,362. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.78. The company has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.17 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.91. Assured Guaranty has a twelve month low of $65.39 and a twelve month high of $96.60.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $269.00 million during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was down 33.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Assured Guaranty will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Assured Guaranty

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGO. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Assured Guaranty during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 66.6% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 493 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Assured Guaranty by 183.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 596 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.