Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $258.1667.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AIZ shares. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Assurant from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assurant in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler lifted 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Assurant from $255.00 to $246.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th.

Assurant Price Performance

NYSE AIZ opened at $212.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $226.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $224.45. Assurant has a 52-week low of $174.97 and a 52-week high of $246.31.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $5.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.55 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.81% and a return on equity of 18.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Assurant will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Assurant’s payout ratio is presently 20.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Subhashish Sengupta sold 1,880 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.53, for a total value of $395,796.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $609,484.35. This represents a 39.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.98, for a total transaction of $158,235.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,000,256.18. The trade was a 13.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 2,650 shares of company stock worth $558,331 in the last 90 days. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Assurant by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,040,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,213,968,000 after purchasing an additional 29,974 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Assurant by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 919,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $221,500,000 after buying an additional 57,139 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Assurant by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 697,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,006,000 after buying an additional 49,698 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Assurant in the fourth quarter worth about $161,574,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 665,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $143,588,000 after acquiring an additional 150,907 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

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.