Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Stake Cut by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,401,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,205 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Assurant were worth $278,724,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Assurant in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 509.4% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 62.1% in the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Assurant during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in Assurant during the 2nd quarter worth $51,000. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total transaction of $627,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,321,240.44. This represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Assurant has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.20.

Assurant Stock Up 0.4 %

Assurant stock opened at $226.15 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $199.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.02. The stock has a market cap of $11.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.57. Assurant, Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.12 and a 52 week high of $227.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.29 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This is a positive change from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is 20.54%.

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.