WINTON GROUP Ltd Purchases New Holdings in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 27,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,642,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in Assurant by 197.2% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. increased its stake in Assurant by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 7,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,903,000 after acquiring an additional 912 shares during the period. Globeflex Capital L P increased its stake in Assurant by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Globeflex Capital L P now owns 25,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,146,000 after acquiring an additional 1,642 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Assurant by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,914,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming increased its stake in Assurant by 2,219.0% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,435 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after acquiring an additional 2,330 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AIZ shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Assurant from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Assurant from $255.00 to $246.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Assurant from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Assurant from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $240.00 to $285.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.83.

Assurant Stock Up 2.3%

NYSE AIZ opened at $257.47 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $236.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.87. The company has a market capitalization of $12.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17 and a beta of 0.56. Assurant, Inc. has a 1-year low of $183.39 and a 1-year high of $260.96.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $5.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.29 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.29 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 7.60%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.79 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 21.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Assurant’s payout ratio is presently 18.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.77, for a total value of $503,540.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 12,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,213,592.28. The trade was a 13.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Keith Meier sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.31, for a total value of $6,357,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 18,552 shares in the company, valued at $4,717,959.12. The trade was a 57.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 31,650 shares of company stock valued at $7,930,981 over the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assurant Company 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.