denkapparat Operations GmbH Purchases New Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

denkapparat Operations GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AIZ. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Assurant by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,320,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $708,016,000 after purchasing an additional 891,292 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Assurant by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,163,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,392,000 after purchasing an additional 65,874 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Assurant during the fourth quarter valued at about $143,475,000. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Assurant by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 281,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,764,000 after buying an additional 87,323 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Assurant during the third quarter valued at about $48,430,000. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total transaction of $604,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,568,162. The trade was a 14.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AIZ opened at $211.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Assurant, Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.12 and a 12 month high of $230.55. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $209.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.03.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.83. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.25% and a net margin of 6.40%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is 22.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Assurant from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $212.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Assurant in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.17.

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.