LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) by 144.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,318 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 13,787 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in Assurant were worth $4,972,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,773 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,657,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 24,887 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assurant during the 4th quarter worth $329,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assurant in the 4th quarter valued at $254,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
AIZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Assurant from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $230.00 to $224.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Assurant from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.17.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Assurant
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total value of $604,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,708 shares in the company, valued at $3,568,162. This represents a 14.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company's stock.
Assurant Trading Down 0.5 %
AIZ traded down $0.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $189.45. The stock had a trading volume of 492,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 380,480. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $204.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.53. 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 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43.
Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current year.
Assurant Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Assurant's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.11%.
Assurant Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Recommended Stories
Before you consider Assurant, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Assurant wasn't on the list.
While Assurant currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Like this article? Share it with a colleague.
Link copied to clipboard.
