Handelsbanken Fonder AB Trims Stock Holdings in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Assurant were worth $2,548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AIZ. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 1,222.0% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 356,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,319,000 after acquiring an additional 329,131 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Assurant by 28.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,479,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,285,000 after purchasing an additional 323,573 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 8.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,051,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $800,054,000 after purchasing an additional 310,455 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assurant during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,095,000. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 73.3% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 279,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,577,000 after purchasing an additional 118,096 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AIZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Assurant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Stephens started coverage on Assurant in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Assurant from $248.00 to $254.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Assurant from $238.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.00.

Assurant Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:AIZ opened at $228.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $174.97 and a 1 year high of $232.02. The company has a market cap of $11.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $217.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.23.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter. Assurant had a return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 5.83%. Assurant has set its FY 2022 guidance at $13.062-$13.512 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. This is a positive change from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. Assurant’s payout ratio is currently 21.42%.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In related news, CEO Keith Demmings sold 13,725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.52, for a total value of $3,026,637.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 84,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,666,356.44. This trade represents a 13.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 22,275 shares of company stock valued at $4,909,946 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Profile

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.