Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 8,185 Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 129,217 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 8,185 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.25% of Assurant worth $27,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AIZ. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in Assurant during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 127.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Assurant by 219.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 150 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in Assurant by 503.1% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Assurant by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 287 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AIZ. StockNews.com cut Assurant from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Assurant from $230.00 to $224.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Assurant from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $234.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,568,162. This represents a 14.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Assurant Stock Up 2.6 %

Assurant stock traded up $5.02 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $194.58. The stock had a trading volume of 81,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 461,049. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Assurant, Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.12 and a 12 month high of $230.55. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $204.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $207.19. The company has a market capitalization of $9.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 0.53.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.83. Assurant had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 17.25%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Assurant's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

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.