Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Trims Stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) by 16.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,629 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 6,018 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd owned 0.06% of Assurant worth $6,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 47,011 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,400,000 after acquiring an additional 4,016 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in Assurant by 75.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 749 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $149,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Davis R M Inc. bought a new stake in Assurant during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $219,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 57.6% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 8,105 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,612,000 after purchasing an additional 2,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 4.4% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 159,880 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,794,000 after buying an additional 6,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total transaction of $627,540.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant Stock Performance

Shares of Assurant stock traded down $1.65 on Wednesday, reaching $227.03. 487,593 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 354,881. The company has a 50 day moving average of $202.15 and a 200 day moving average of $185.43. 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 52 week low of $160.12 and a 52 week high of $230.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a PE ratio of 16.19 and a beta of 0.57.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.29 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Assurant's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AIZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Assurant from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $225.20.

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.