Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 2,963 Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) by 57.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,105 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,963 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Assurant were worth $1,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AIZ. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in Assurant by 4.4% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 6,756 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 3.6% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,673 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,526,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in Assurant in the third quarter worth $280,000. Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in Assurant by 30.2% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,622 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $323,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its position in Assurant by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 10,087 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,006,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AIZ. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com lowered Assurant from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $225.20.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,321,240.44. The trade was a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Assurant Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of AIZ traded up $1.50 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $227.23. The company had a trading volume of 371,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 444,680. Assurant, Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.12 and a 52 week 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 company has a market capitalization of $11.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.21 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $204.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $186.93.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.29 EPS. Assurant's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.41 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. This is an increase from Assurant's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Assurant's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.54%.

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.