2,600 Shares in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 2,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $566,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Assurant by 0.6% during 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 buying an additional 29,974 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Assurant by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 919,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $221,500,000 after acquiring an additional 57,139 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Assurant by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 697,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $168,006,000 after acquiring an additional 49,698 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Assurant during the fourth quarter worth about $161,574,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Assurant by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 640,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,248,000 after purchasing an additional 31,432 shares during the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assurant Stock Up 0.3%

AIZ stock opened at $280.05 on Wednesday. Assurant, Inc. has a 1-year low of $183.39 and a 1-year high of $284.12. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $254.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $237.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.88 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Assurant Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were issued 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 dividend yield of 1.3%. Assurant’s payout ratio is presently 18.01%.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.77, for a total transaction of $503,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 12,764 shares in the company, valued at $3,213,592.28. This trade represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $511,360.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,818.88. This represents a 42.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,000 shares of company stock worth $9,211,620. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AIZ. UBS Group boosted their price target on Assurant from $270.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Assurant from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $310.00 price target on shares of Assurant in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Truist Financial increased their price target 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, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.71.

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.