Allstate Corp Buys Shares of 1,587 Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Allstate Corp purchased a new position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $338,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Assurant in the fourth quarter worth $143,475,000. Amundi raised its position in shares of Assurant by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 281,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,764,000 after buying an additional 87,323 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Assurant during the third quarter valued at $48,430,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Assurant by 48.4% during the third 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 in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AIZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assurant from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $212.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Assurant in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.17.

Assurant Trading Down 0.2 %

AIZ stock opened at $211.04 on Thursday. Assurant, Inc. has a one year low of $160.12 and a one year high of $230.55. The company has a market capitalization of $10.72 billion, a PE ratio of 14.58 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $209.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.64. 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 (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share 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, analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total transaction of $604,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,568,162. This represents a 14.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.