Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Shares Purchased by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Assurant were worth $1,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AIZ. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Assurant by 443.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,442,000 after buying an additional 10,587 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in Assurant by 75.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 6,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,216,000 after purchasing an additional 2,778 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Assurant by 37.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 49.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares during the period. Finally, Csenge Advisory Group increased its position in shares of Assurant by 41.4% during the 2nd quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 747 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 analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on Assurant in a research note on Thursday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assurant Stock Performance

NYSE:AIZ opened at $225.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Assurant, Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.12 and a 52 week high of $230.55. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $187.45.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. Assurant’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This is a boost from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.54%.

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.