Machina Capital S.A.S. Takes $268,000 Position in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AIZ. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 22.3% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 1,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 101.4% in the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 192.2% in the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Assurant by 12.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 79,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,631,000 after acquiring an additional 8,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Assurant by 55.8% during the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.96, for a total value of $194,712.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 3,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,549.60. This represents a 23.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 3,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.53, for a total value of $813,267.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 7,875 shares in the company, valued at $1,642,173.75. The trade was a 33.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 27,125 shares of company stock valued at $5,917,925 over the last 90 days. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AIZ opened at $214.55 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $213.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $202.85. The company has a market cap of $10.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Assurant, Inc. has a twelve month low of $174.97 and a twelve month high of $230.55.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter. Assurant had a return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 5.83%. Assurant has set its FY 2022 guidance at $13.062-$13.512 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Assurant’s payout ratio is 23.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on AIZ. Truist Financial set a $255.00 price target on Assurant in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $238.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Zacks Research cut shares of Assurant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assurant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Assurant has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.83.

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.