Oak Thistle LLC Invests $986,000 in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 4,623 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $986,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AIZ. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Assurant by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,163,593 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $231,392,000 after acquiring an additional 65,874 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 32.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,041,678 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $173,179,000 after purchasing an additional 255,471 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Assurant by 1.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 698,677 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $116,159,000 after purchasing an additional 12,935 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Assurant by 11,480.4% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 464,952 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $92,460,000 after buying an additional 460,937 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Assurant in the third quarter valued at about $48,430,000. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company's stock.

Assurant Stock Up 1.2 %

AIZ traded up $2.51 during trading on Thursday, hitting $211.53. The company had a trading volume of 210,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 282,597. The company has a market capitalization of $10.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Assurant, Inc. has a one year low of $160.12 and a one year high of $230.55. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $215.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $196.18.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. This is an increase from Assurant's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Assurant's dividend payout ratio is 22.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AIZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Assurant from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $229.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $4,321,240.44. The trade was a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.53% of the company's stock.

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.