Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Shares Acquired by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Assurant worth $11,514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 256.7% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $199,000 after buying an additional 865 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,140,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 36.5% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 9,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 2,442 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Assurant by 21.3% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Assurant by 1.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 698,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,159,000 after buying an additional 12,935 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,321,240.44. The trade was a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AIZ. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.50.

Assurant Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE AIZ opened at $211.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Assurant, Inc. has a one year low of $160.12 and a one year high of $230.55. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $215.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 0.62.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This is an increase from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is 22.82%.

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.