MQS Management LLC Acquires 976 Shares of Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

MQS Management LLC grew its holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 72.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the quarter. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in Assurant were worth $460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AIZ. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 12.7% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,740,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $784,603,000 after acquiring an additional 420,069 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Assurant by 28.0% during 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. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Assurant during the first quarter worth about $28,095,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Assurant by 73.3% during the first 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 during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in Assurant by 30.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 367,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,688,000 after purchasing an additional 85,962 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on AIZ. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Assurant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Stephens began coverage on shares of Assurant in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Assurant from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Benchmark began coverage on shares of Assurant in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Assurant in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $238.00 target price for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.00.

Assurant Stock Performance

Assurant stock opened at $211.95 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $213.90 and a 200-day moving average of $201.73. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $174.97 and a 1 year high of $230.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $10.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.35 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other Assurant news, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.96, for a total transaction of $194,712.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,549.60. This represents a 23.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.53, for a total transaction of $813,267.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 7,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,642,173.75. This represents a 33.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,125 shares of company stock valued at $5,917,925. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.