105,951 Shares in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ Acquired by Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. acquired a new stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 105,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $22,949,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of Assurant at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AIZ. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Assurant by 3.8% in the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Assurant by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Assurant by 3.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 1.3% in the second quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 4,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $900,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 3.0% in the second quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:AIZ opened at $240.11 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.02 billion, a PE ratio of 14.61 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.40. Assurant, Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.97 and a 52-week high of $243.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $224.44 and a 200 day moving average of $211.17.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter. Assurant had a return on equity of 18.61% and a net margin of 6.75%.The business had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter. Assurant has set its FY 2022 guidance at $13.062-$13.512 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a $0.88 dividend. This is an increase from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. Assurant’s payout ratio is currently 21.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AIZ. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assurant in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Truist Financial set a $255.00 price objective on Assurant in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Zacks Research lowered Assurant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Assurant from $255.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $252.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assurant news, CEO Keith Demmings sold 13,725 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.52, for a total transaction of $3,026,637.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 84,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,666,356.44. This trade represents a 13.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc is a global provider of risk management products and services, specializing in the housing and lifestyle markets. The company offers insurance and related products designed to help consumers protect their homes, personal belongings, and electronic devices. Its core offerings include renters insurance, manufactured housing finance, flood insurance, mobile device protection plans, and extended service contracts for appliances and electronics.

Within its Global Housing segment, Assurant partners with mortgage lenders, financial institutions and government agencies to deliver specialty insurance and risk mitigation services.