Headlands Technologies LLC Purchases New Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $64,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Assurant by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,238,477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $464,981,000 after acquiring an additional 573,309 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Assurant by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,748,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $394,581,000 after acquiring an additional 191,750 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Assurant by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,865,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $267,848,000 after acquiring an additional 109,123 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Assurant by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 638,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,652,000 after acquiring an additional 85,953 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Assurant by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 597,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $85,777,000 after acquiring an additional 9,167 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assurant Price Performance

NYSE AIZ opened at $174.40 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Assurant, Inc. has a 12-month low of $118.45 and a 12-month high of $189.48. The company has a market capitalization of $9.07 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $178.85 and its 200-day moving average is $169.67.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $4.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.88. Assurant had a net margin of 5.77% and a return on equity of 18.36%. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Assurant from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $170.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $191.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued 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 $192.20.

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.