Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $291.4286.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AIZ shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Assurant from $270.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Assurant from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $310.00 price target on shares of Assurant in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Assurant in a research note on Monday, June 22nd.

Assurant Stock Performance

AIZ opened at $282.44 on Friday. Assurant has a 52-week low of $184.15 and a 52-week high of $284.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.99 billion, a PE ratio of 14.45 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $266.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.38.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $5.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.29 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.29 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 7.60%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.79 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Assurant will post 21.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 2,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.77, for a total transaction of $503,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 12,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,213,592.28. The trade was a 13.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $511,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,741 shares in the company, valued at $700,818.88. The trade was a 42.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 36,000 shares of company stock worth $9,211,620 in the last three months. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assurant

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AIZ. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Assurant by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,040,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,213,968,000 after purchasing an additional 29,974 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Assurant by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,125,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $245,121,000 after buying an additional 205,767 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 697,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $168,006,000 after buying an additional 49,698 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Assurant in the 4th quarter valued at about $161,574,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Assurant by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 640,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,248,000 after buying an additional 31,432 shares during the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Assurant Company Profile

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.