Short Interest in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Rises By 6.5%

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 755,500 shares, an increase of 6.5% from the September 30th total of 709,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 333,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Martin Jenns sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.13, for a total transaction of $267,195.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $717,329.51. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Assurant news, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.44, for a total value of $103,642.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $593,962.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Jenns sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.13, for a total transaction of $267,195.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $717,329.51. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assurant

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Assurant by 32.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,041,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,179,000 after purchasing an additional 255,471 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assurant in the third quarter worth $284,730,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 20.4% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 566,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,118,000 after acquiring an additional 96,021 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 151.7% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 143,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,998,000 after acquiring an additional 86,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 31.9% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,101,000 after acquiring an additional 57,990 shares during the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AIZ. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com cut Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Assurant from $186.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Assurant currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.60.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of Assurant stock traded up $1.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $193.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 56,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 343,531. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $194.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $180.21. The company has a market capitalization of $10.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Assurant has a 12-month low of $158.29 and a 12-month high of $201.55.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.50. Assurant had a net margin of 6.90% and a return on equity of 19.63%. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Assurant will post 14.58 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Assurant’s payout ratio is 19.19%.

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.