Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $23.92 Million Holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,610 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Assurant were worth $23,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Assurant by 2.3% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 9,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Assurant by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,657,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Assurant by 4.4% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 159,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,794,000 after purchasing an additional 6,756 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Assurant by 28.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $168,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Assurant by 17.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 171,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,079,000 after purchasing an additional 24,887 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.17.

Assurant Stock Down 2.5 %

AIZ opened at $206.83 on Friday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $208.65 and its 200 day moving average is $206.59. Assurant, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.12 and a fifty-two week high of $230.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Assurant’s payout ratio is currently 22.11%.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assurant Company 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.