Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Assurant from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $310.00 price objective on Assurant in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Assurant from $270.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Assurant in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $291.43.

Assurant Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:AIZ opened at $276.61 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $264.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $241.14. The company has a market cap of $13.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.39. Assurant has a one year low of $183.39 and a one year high of $284.12.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $5.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.29 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.29 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 7.60% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.79 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Assurant will post 21.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Assurant’s payout ratio is 18.01%.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In other news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.77, for a total transaction of $503,540.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 12,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,213,592.28. This represents a 13.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $511,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2,741 shares in the company, valued at $700,818.88. This trade represents a 42.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 36,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,211,620 over the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,040,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,213,968,000 after acquiring an additional 29,974 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,125,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,121,000 after purchasing an additional 205,767 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 697,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,006,000 after purchasing an additional 49,698 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Assurant in the 4th quarter worth $161,574,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in Assurant by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 640,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,248,000 after purchasing an additional 31,432 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Assurant

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.