Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 18,610 Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,610 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.22% of Assurant worth $23,921,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,593,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 10,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,006,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 127.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,642,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total transaction of $604,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,708 shares in the company, valued at $3,568,162. This represents a 14.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE AIZ opened at $206.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. Assurant, Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.12 and a 52-week high of $230.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $208.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $206.59. The stock has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 0.61.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.83. Assurant had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 17.25%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of 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 research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assurant presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.17.

Assurant Company Profile

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.