Oak Thistle LLC Makes New Investment in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 4,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $986,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AIZ. Accurate Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Assurant in the fourth quarter valued at $2,728,000. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 11,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,371,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic grew its stake in Assurant by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 7,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,493,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Assurant by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Assurant by 17.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 171,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,079,000 after buying an additional 24,887 shares during the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.50.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of AIZ opened at $208.96 on Thursday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $215.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.18. Assurant, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.12 and a twelve month high of $230.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.72 billion, a PE ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 0.62.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a positive change from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Assurant’s payout ratio is presently 22.82%.

Assurant Profile

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.