Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $229.50.

Several brokerages have issued reports on AIZ. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America upped their price target on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Assurant in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd.

Assurant Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:AIZ opened at $205.32 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 0.62. Assurant has a 1-year low of $160.12 and a 1-year high of $230.55. 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 (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 company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Assurant will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. This is an increase from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

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

Institutional Trading of Assurant

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Assurant by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 10,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,006,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Assurant by 7.2% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 62.1% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in Assurant by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 6,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Assurant by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,514,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.