Ritholtz Wealth Management Raises Holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 29.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,199 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Assurant were worth $1,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Assurant by 127.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Assurant by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,642,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Assurant by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Assurant by 4.6% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:AIZ opened at $198.22 on Wednesday. Assurant, Inc. has a 12-month low of $160.12 and a 12-month high of $230.55. The company has a market capitalization of $10.08 billion, a PE ratio of 15.45 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50 day moving average of $196.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $204.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $3.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.61. Assurant had a return on equity of 15.49% and a net margin of 5.55%. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.78 earnings per share. Assurant’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Assurant’s payout ratio is presently 24.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on AIZ. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assurant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Piper Sandler upgraded Assurant from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $217.00 target price on Assurant and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Assurant from $224.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Assurant currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.93, for a total transaction of $201,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,725.75. This represents a 7.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.