Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Shares Acquired by iA Global Asset Management Inc.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 5.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 9,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. SteelPeak Wealth LLC grew its position in Assurant by 770.1% during the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 13,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,170,000 after acquiring an additional 11,551 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Assurant by 443.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,442,000 after acquiring an additional 10,587 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 159,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,794,000 after purchasing an additional 6,756 shares during the period. Finally, Mount Lucas Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Assurant by 102.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP now owns 24,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,121,000 after purchasing an additional 12,529 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AIZ shares. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.50.

Assurant Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of Assurant stock opened at $218.63 on Tuesday. Assurant, Inc. has a 1-year low of $160.12 and a 1-year high of $230.55. The company has a market capitalization of $11.21 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The business has a 50-day moving average of $206.58 and a 200-day moving average of $188.42.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.48. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.29 EPS. Assurant’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This is a positive change from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Assurant’s payout ratio is 20.54%.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total value of $627,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,321,240.44. The trade was a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Assurant

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.