Short Interest in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Increases By 30.9%

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 912,500 shares, an increase of 30.9% from the October 31st total of 697,100 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 363,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on AIZ. Bank of America upped their target price on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.20.

Assurant Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:AIZ opened at $227.10 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $203.46 and its 200-day moving average is $186.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Assurant has a 12 month low of $160.12 and a 12 month high of $230.55. The firm has a market cap of $11.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.57.

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. Assurant had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.29 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Assurant will post 15.41 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is an increase 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 yield of 1.41%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total value of $627,540.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,321,240.44. This represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assurant

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assurant in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Assurant during the second quarter worth $31,000. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in Assurant by 509.4% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Assurant by 62.1% in the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Assurant in the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

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.