NU Online News Service, Sept. 21, 2:26 p.m. EDT
Standard and Poor's Equity Research said today it has raised its opinion of American International Group shares to hold from sell, and company shares rose.
S&P's Equity Research noted unconfirmed reports that Rep Edolphus Towns, D-NY, who chairs the Oversight & Reform Committee, is set to urge the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury to (once again) ease the terms of AIG's $182.5 billion government bailout.
The notion of a revision in the rescue package is one that has been pushed by former AIG Chairman Hank Greenberg, who has testified before Mr. Towns' committee.
S&P said, "We see this news buoying the shares near term. We raise our target price by $15 to $45, assuming the shares trade at a discount to stated book value. We note June 30 tangible common equity was -$261.66 per share.
AIG stock at 1:30 p.m. today was up by $4.62 to $44.53 on the New York Stock Exchange and at one point in the trading had exceeded the S&P target and sold for $45.40. At 3:47 it stood at $48.50
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