Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 239,513 Shares of Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its holdings in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,005,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 239,513 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 1.99% of Assurant worth $217,793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Assurant during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $131,300,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 482.8% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 621,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,805,000 after acquiring an additional 515,127 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Assurant by 685.2% during the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 452,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $97,851,000 after acquiring an additional 394,694 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Assurant by 1,222.0% in the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 356,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,319,000 after purchasing an additional 329,131 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Assurant by 8.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,051,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $800,054,000 after purchasing an additional 310,455 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AIZ. Truist Financial set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Assurant in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Assurant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assurant in a report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Assurant from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Assurant from $248.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Assurant has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.67.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AIZ opened at $234.02 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $11.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 0.56. 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 fifty-two week low of $174.97 and a fifty-two week high of $243.76. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $232.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.92.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $5.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $1.50. Assurant had a return on equity of 18.61% and a net margin of 6.75%.The firm had revenue of $3.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

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

Assurant Company Profile

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.