M&T Bank Corp Increases Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 57.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 785 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Assurant were worth $449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 12.7% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,740,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $784,603,000 after buying an additional 420,069 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,399,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $299,724,000 after purchasing an additional 10,956 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 831,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $177,370,000 after purchasing an additional 156,364 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Assurant in the fourth quarter worth $143,475,000. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 607,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $129,522,000 after buying an additional 7,211 shares during the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.93, for a total transaction of $201,930.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Stock Performance

AIZ stock opened at $185.78 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $196.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $201.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Assurant, Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.63 and a 12 month high of $230.55. The company has a market capitalization of $9.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48 and a beta of 0.59.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $3.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.06 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 5.55% and a return on equity of 15.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.78 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AIZ. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Assurant from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Assurant from $224.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.83.

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.