National Bank of Canada FI Trims Holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

National Bank of Canada FI lowered its stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 43.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,156 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Assurant were worth $5,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Assurant by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,320,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $708,016,000 after purchasing an additional 891,292 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Assurant in the fourth quarter valued at about $143,475,000. Amundi raised its stake in Assurant by 45.0% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 281,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,764,000 after buying an additional 87,323 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Assurant by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 192,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,243,000 after buying an additional 62,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Assurant by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 171,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,079,000 after acquiring an additional 24,887 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total transaction of $604,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,568,162. The trade was a 14.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant Stock Performance

Shares of AIZ opened at $187.14 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.12 and a 1 year high of $230.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $208.45 and a 200-day moving average of $207.75. The company has a market cap of $9.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 0.53.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Assurant 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.