CX Institutional Makes New Investment in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

CX Institutional bought a new stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 624 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $131,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AIZ. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 127.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 219.1% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 503.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assurant in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Assurant in the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 1,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.93, for a total value of $201,930.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,725.75. This trade represents a 7.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AIZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $217.00 price objective on shares of Assurant and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Assurant from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $224.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assurant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $228.67.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of AIZ opened at $198.01 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a PE ratio of 13.68 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $195.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $205.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. Assurant, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.12 and a twelve month high of $230.55.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $3.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.06 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 17.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is 24.94%.

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.