State of Wyoming Trims Stake in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

State of Wyoming reduced its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 88.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,151 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Assurant were worth $62,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new stake in Assurant in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Assurant during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. BOKF NA bought a new position in shares of Assurant during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Assurant by 57.8% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Assurant by 205.5% in the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Keith Meier sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.31, for a total transaction of $6,357,750.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 18,552 shares in the company, valued at $4,717,959.12. The trade was a 57.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.77, for a total value of $503,540.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 12,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,213,592.28. This represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,211,620. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AIZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Assurant from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings cut Assurant from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Assurant in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $291.43.

Assurant Price Performance

NYSE:AIZ opened at $282.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50-day moving average is $267.43 and its 200 day moving average is $243.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Assurant, Inc. has a 12 month low of $186.98 and a 12 month high of $284.64.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $5.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.29 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.29 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 7.60% and a return on equity of 20.32%. Assurant’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 21.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.01%.

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.