Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) EVP Sells $604,500.00 in Stock

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total transaction of $604,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,568,162. The trade was a 14.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Assurant Stock Performance

Shares of Assurant stock opened at $199.73 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Assurant, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.12 and a twelve month high of $230.55. The stock has a market cap of $10.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s fifty day moving average is $210.44 and its 200 day moving average is $203.47.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.83. Assurant had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 17.25%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Assurant’s payout ratio is 22.11%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assurant

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 2.3% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 9,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 4.4% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 159,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,794,000 after purchasing an additional 6,756 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 17.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 171,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,079,000 after purchasing an additional 24,887 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assurant during the fourth quarter valued at about $254,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AIZ. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assurant from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $212.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Assurant has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.17.

Assurant Company 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.