Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on AIZ. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assurant in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Assurant from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on Assurant from $255.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Assurant from $248.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Assurant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Assurant has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $258.17.

Assurant Price Performance

AIZ stock opened at $217.19 on Friday. Assurant has a one year low of $174.97 and a one year high of $246.31. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $235.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $10.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 0.56.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $5.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.55 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.28 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.81% and a return on equity of 18.65%. Assurant’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.79 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Assurant will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assurant

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Assurant by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,010,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,085,247,000 after purchasing an additional 959,259 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Assurant in the fourth quarter worth about $161,574,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 482.8% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 621,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,805,000 after buying an additional 515,127 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 685.2% during the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 452,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $97,851,000 after buying an additional 394,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 1,222.0% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 356,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $70,319,000 after buying an additional 329,131 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

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.