Amundi Boosts Holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Amundi boosted its position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 45.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 281,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 87,323 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned 0.55% of Assurant worth $57,764,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Assurant during the third quarter worth $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Assurant during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 127.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 219.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 509.4% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AIZ shares. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley started 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 for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assurant from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $212.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Assurant has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.17.

Assurant Stock Performance

AIZ stock opened at $204.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $208.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $205.92. The company has a market capitalization of $10.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.12 and a beta of 0.61. Assurant, Inc. has a 1-year low of $160.12 and a 1-year high of $230.55.

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

Assurant Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend yield of 1.57%. Assurant’s payout ratio is currently 22.11%.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total value of $604,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,568,162. The trade was a 14.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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.