Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) by 6.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 72,260 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,317 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.14% of Assurant worth $14,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ballast Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Assurant in the 3rd quarter valued at $207,000. Tobias Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant during the third quarter worth about $239,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 0.3% during the third quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 26,260 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,222,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Assurant by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,545 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,892,000 after purchasing an additional 1,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Assurant in the 3rd quarter valued at about $72,000. 92.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,321,240.44. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 550 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.44, for a total value of $103,642.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,152 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $593,962.88. The trade was a 14.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AIZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial upped 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $225.20.

Assurant Trading Up 1.6 %

AIZ traded up $3.34 on Friday, hitting $218.82. The company had a trading volume of 488,411 shares, compared to its average volume of 339,065. The company's fifty day moving average price is $197.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $182.78. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $159.32 and a 1 year high of $219.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.61, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.57.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.29 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.05 earnings per share for the current year.

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.