Brokerages Set Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Price Target at $229.50

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $229.50.

AIZ has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Assurant in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,321,240.44. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assurant

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in Assurant by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,163,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,392,000 after acquiring an additional 65,874 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Assurant by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,041,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,179,000 after acquiring an additional 255,471 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 698,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,159,000 after purchasing an additional 12,935 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Assurant by 20.4% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 566,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,118,000 after purchasing an additional 96,021 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in Assurant by 11,480.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 464,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,460,000 after buying an additional 460,937 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assurant Stock Up 0.2 %

AIZ stock opened at $211.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $214.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $193.92. Assurant has a 52 week low of $160.12 and a 52 week high of $230.55. The company has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.11 and a beta of 0.62.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Assurant will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is an increase from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Assurant’s payout ratio is currently 22.82%.

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.