California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Position in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 7.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 132,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,998 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.27% of Assurant worth $28,838,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake 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 during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Assurant by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 919,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,500,000 after buying an additional 57,139 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Assurant by 7.7% during the 4th 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 bought a new stake in Assurant during the 4th quarter valued at about $161,574,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Assurant by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 640,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,248,000 after buying an additional 31,432 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assurant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $310.00 price target on Assurant in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Assurant in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Assurant from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Assurant from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assurant currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $291.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assurant news, EVP Keith Meier sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.31, for a total transaction of $6,357,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,552 shares in the company, valued at $4,717,959.12. This represents a 57.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 2,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.77, for a total value of $503,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 12,764 shares in the company, valued at $3,213,592.28. This represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 36,000 shares of company stock worth $9,211,620 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of Assurant stock opened at $275.39 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $13.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.09 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $262.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $240.41. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $183.39 and a 1 year high of $284.12.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $5.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.29 by $0.66. Assurant had a net margin of 7.60% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The business had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.79 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 21.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Assurant’s payout ratio is 18.01%.

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.