Assured Guaranty upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette

Keefe Bruyette upgraded Assured Guaranty to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $92, up from $87. The company announced the merger of its two primary U.S. insurance subsidiaries, and in connection a $300M special dividend to the holding company, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says that with this unexpected announcement, and with the stock flat with where it was immediately prior to the “very surprising” favorable appeals court ruling on PREPA in June, it thinks Assured’s valuation “looks very compelling.”