Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $229.50.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total value of $627,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 20,658 shares in the company, valued at $4,321,240.44. This represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 7,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Assurant by 17.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 171,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,079,000 after purchasing an additional 24,887 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Assurant by 6.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 72,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,370,000 after purchasing an additional 4,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Assurant during the third quarter worth $244,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE AIZ opened at $207.38 on Thursday. Assurant has a 1-year low of $160.12 and a 1-year high of $230.55. The company has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of 14.79 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $214.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.28.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Assurant will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This is an increase from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.82%.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides business services that supports, protects, and connects consumer purchases in North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through two segments: Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. The Global Lifestyle segment offers mobile device solutions, and extended service contracts and related services for consumer electronics and appliances, and credit and other insurance products; and vehicle protection, commercial equipment, and other related services.