Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $244.83 and last traded at $244.2580, with a volume of 66750 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $240.39.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AIZ has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research lowered Assurant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Truist Financial set a $255.00 price objective on Assurant in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Assurant from $252.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Assurant from $255.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Assurant currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.67.

Assurant Stock Up 0.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.75 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $235.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $5.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $1.50. Assurant had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 18.61%. The business had revenue of $3.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.00 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.42%.

Institutional Trading of Assurant

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Assurant by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,775,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,338,041,000 after acquiring an additional 88,749 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 23.7% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,010,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,085,247,000 after purchasing an additional 959,259 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Assurant by 4.5% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,245,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,879,000 after purchasing an additional 53,773 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Assurant by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 862,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $186,808,000 after purchasing an additional 113,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Assurant by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 665,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $143,588,000 after buying an additional 150,907 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.