Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 10,317 Shares of Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 18.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 66,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,317 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $14,568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in Assurant by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 5,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Assurant by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 17,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,110,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its position in Assurant by 27.5% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 0.9% during the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 5,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 5.4% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Assurant from $270.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Assurant from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Assurant in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Assurant from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assurant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Assurant currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $291.43.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AIZ opened at $273.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a PE ratio of 14.00 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Assurant, Inc. has a twelve month low of $183.39 and a twelve month high of $284.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $263.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $240.89.

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

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Assurant’s payout ratio is currently 18.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 2,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 12,764 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Lonergan sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.71, for a total value 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 36,000 shares of company stock worth $9,211,620 in the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.