Ascent Group LLC Makes New $1.15 Million Investment in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Ascent Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,147,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in Assurant by 40.9% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 25,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after buying an additional 7,310 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Assurant in the first quarter valued at approximately $513,000. Graham Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Assurant by 288.4% during the first quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 5,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,187,000 after buying an additional 4,202 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in Assurant by 68.9% during the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 70,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,859,000 after buying an additional 28,900 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Assurant by 30.6% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 367,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,688,000 after buying an additional 85,962 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AIZ. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Assurant from $252.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Assurant from $255.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Truist Financial set a $255.00 price target on shares of Assurant in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Zacks Research cut shares of Assurant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $248.00 to $254.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.67.

Assurant Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of AIZ opened at $241.20 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $226.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.28. Assurant, Inc. has a one year low of $174.97 and a one year high of $243.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68 and a beta of 0.56.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter. Assurant has set its FY 2022 guidance at $13.062-$13.512 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. This is a boost from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.42%.

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.