Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Receives $234.17 Average PT from Analysts

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $234.17.

AIZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Assurant from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $212.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on Assurant in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price on the stock.

Assurant Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of Assurant stock opened at $211.18 on Friday. Assurant has a 12-month low of $160.12 and a 12-month high of $230.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.59 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $209.68 and its 200-day moving average is $204.64.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.83. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.25% and a net margin of 6.40%. Equities analysts anticipate that Assurant will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Assurant’s payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total transaction of $604,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,568,162. This trade represents a 14.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assurant

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 86.1% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $131,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,514,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Assurant during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $681,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Assurant during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $284,730,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 45.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 117,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,282,000 after buying an additional 36,458 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides business services that supports, protects, and connects consumer purchases in North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through two segments: Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. The Global Lifestyle segment offers mobile device solutions, and extended service contracts and related services for consumer electronics and appliances, and credit and other insurance products; and vehicle protection, commercial equipment, and other related services.