Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Shares Sold by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale cut its holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 86 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Assurant were worth $993,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AIZ. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after buying an additional 639 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assurant in the 1st quarter valued at about $211,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 15,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,818,000 after buying an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after buying an additional 896 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 7,624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on AIZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Assurant from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $170.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Assurant from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Assurant from $191.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.20.

Assurant Stock Performance

Shares of AIZ opened at $174.19 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $178.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.05 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Assurant, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.41 and a 52-week high of $189.48.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $4.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.88. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 5.77% and a return on equity of 18.36%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Monday, February 5th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

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.