PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 3.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $1,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in Assurant by 11,480.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 464,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $92,460,000 after purchasing an additional 460,937 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Assurant by 32.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,041,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,179,000 after buying an additional 255,471 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Assurant during the third quarter valued at $284,730,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 96,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Assurant by 751.0% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 60,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,066,000 after acquiring an additional 53,544 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AIZ. UBS Group raised their target price on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted 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. Bank of America upped their target price on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.20.

Assurant Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AIZ opened at $228.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.12 and a 1 year high of $230.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.73 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $201.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.14.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) 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 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.29 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,321,240.44. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

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.