Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases Shares of 15,324 Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 15,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,115,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Bancorp Inc ME purchased a new stake in Assurant in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its stake in Assurant by 81.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in Assurant during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AIZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $274.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Assurant from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Assurant from $274.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Weiss Ratings raised Assurant from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Assurant from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $327.14.

Assurant Stock Up 1.3%

AIZ opened at $287.83 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $280.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $251.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. Assurant, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $205.01 and a fifty-two week high of $303.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75 and a beta of 0.54.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $6.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $1.24. The firm had revenue of $3.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.43 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 20.40% and a net margin of 7.90%.Assurant’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.56 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 22.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,931 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.46, for a total value of $1,188,970.26. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 24,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,333,747.62. This trade represents a 13.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Robert Lonergan sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.71, for a total transaction of $1,838,970.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 27,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,191,423.54. This represents a 20.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Assurant 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.