Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. reduced its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,703 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 72.6% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant during the second quarter worth $27,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in shares of Assurant by 1,133.3% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 65.6% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Assurant in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AIZ shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Assurant from $248.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Assurant from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $255.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assurant in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $258.17.

Assurant Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Assurant stock opened at $217.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $221.90. The stock has a market cap of $10.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 0.56. Assurant, Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.97 and a 12-month high of $246.31.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.81% and a return on equity of 18.65%. Assurant’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.79 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.74%.

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.