Dividend Assets Capital LLC Reduces Stake in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Dividend Assets Capital LLC cut its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 34.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 26,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,714 shares during the period. Dividend Assets Capital LLC’s holdings in Assurant were worth $5,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 5,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Assurant by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 17,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,110,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Assurant by 27.5% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Assurant by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Assurant by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In other Assurant news, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 2,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $511,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,818.88. The trade was a 42.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Keith Meier sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.31, for a total transaction of $6,357,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,552 shares in the company, valued at $4,717,959.12. This trade represents a 57.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,211,620. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Assurant from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $240.00 to $285.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 28th. Weiss Ratings cut Assurant from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $310.00 target price on Assurant in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Assurant from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.57.

Assurant Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE:AIZ opened at $279.35 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $252.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $237.23. Assurant, Inc. has a 52 week low of $183.39 and a 52 week high of $279.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Assurant Dividend Announcement

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

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.