BTIG Bumps PT on MBIA (MBI) to $13 Following Q4 Results, Stock Buyback Plan
BTIG lifts its price target on MBIA, Inc. (NYSE: MBI) from $11 up to $13 following $4 results reported Monday night.
Analsyt Mark Palmer noted that MBIA's Q4 results were highlighted by a new $100 million share repurchase authorization and yet another buyback-driven increase in its adjusted book value (ABV), the company this morning followed up with a conference call that touched on management’s thinking about share buybacks going forward; the new business activity and excess capital level at National Public Guarantee Corp., its municipal bond insurance unit; and the company’s plans for managing its exposure to the Zohar CDOs at MBIA Insurance Corp.
CEO Jay Brown said that while he expects MBI’s pace of share buybacks will slow relative to the pace seen during the last five quarters and that it will depend on the levels of liquidity and leverage at the holding company as well as how events around Puerto Rico’s debt restructuring unfold. He added that if MBI’s stock price remains low the company would “figure out a way” to continue to buy back shares as quickly as possible,
Palmer said.
NOTE: With MBIA's Q4 release, the company said: Subsequent to quarter-end, on February 23, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a new share repurchase authorization for the Company or its subsidiaries to repurchase up to $100 million of its common shares. Repurchases by the Company or its subsidiaries under the new repurchase authorization will be subject to available liquidity, general market and economic conditions, alternate uses for its capital and other factors. Acquisitions in the repurchase program may be made from time to time in open market transactions, block trades or in private transactions in accordance with applicable securities laws and regulations and other legal requirements. There is no minimum number of shares that the Company is required to repurchase and the repurchase program may be suspended or discontinued at any time without prior notice.
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