Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 6.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,317 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Assurant worth $14,370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AIZ. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Assurant by 0.5% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 10,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,006,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 62.1% in the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in Assurant by 1.1% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 6,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,376,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Assurant by 1.0% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total value of $627,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,321,240.44. This represents a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AIZ. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com cut Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Assurant in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Assurant currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.50.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of AIZ stock opened at $215.05 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $212.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $192.54. Assurant, Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.12 and a 52-week high of $230.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34 and a beta of 0.61.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This is an increase from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.82%.

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.