Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Stock Holdings in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 77.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,685 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $2,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 606.7% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Assurant by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 290,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,987,000 after purchasing an additional 47,548 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in shares of Assurant during the 1st quarter valued at $203,000. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Assurant by 66.6% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $556,000 after buying an additional 1,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Assurant by 57.8% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Assurant from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $240.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Assurant from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on Assurant from $270.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Assurant from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Assurant in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.57.

Assurant Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of AIZ stock opened at $268.53 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $250.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $236.22. Assurant, Inc. has a 52 week low of $183.39 and a 52 week high of $270.78. The stock has a market cap of $13.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued 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. Assurant had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 7.60%.The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.79 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 21.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.01%.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In other news, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $511,360.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,818.88. This represents a 42.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.77, for a total value of $503,540.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 12,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,213,592.28. This represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,000 shares of company stock worth $9,211,620. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant 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.