Pensionfund Sabic Grows Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Pensionfund Sabic raised its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 16.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Pensionfund Sabic’s holdings in Assurant were worth $1,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AIZ. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 11,480.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 464,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $92,460,000 after acquiring an additional 460,937 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Assurant by 32.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 255,471 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Assurant during the third quarter valued at $48,430,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Assurant during the third quarter valued at $284,730,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Assurant in the 3rd quarter worth $26,630,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total transaction of $627,540.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares in the company, valued at $4,321,240.44. This represents a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AIZ. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com cut Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America increased their price target on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $229.50.

Assurant Trading Down 0.1 %

AIZ stock traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $211.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 159,614. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 0.62. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.12 and a 1 year high of $230.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.10.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. The company 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.38 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is an increase from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.