Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

AIZ has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assurant in a report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Assurant from $248.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Assurant from $255.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research cut Assurant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Assurant from $252.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $258.17.

Assurant Stock Performance

Shares of Assurant stock opened at $217.19 on Friday. Assurant has a 1 year low of $174.97 and a 1 year high of $246.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $235.50 and its 200 day moving average is $221.65. The stock has a market cap of $10.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $5.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.55 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.81% and a return on equity of 18.65%. Assurant’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.79 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Assurant will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assurant

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AIZ. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,775,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,338,041,000 after buying an additional 88,749 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 29,974 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,245,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $245,879,000 after acquiring an additional 53,773 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 919,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $221,500,000 after acquiring an additional 57,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 49,698 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

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.