Swiss National Bank Decreases Holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Swiss National Bank cut its stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 146,300 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.29% of Assurant worth $31,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Assurant by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 9,021 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,794,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,773 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,657,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 6,756 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 845 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $168,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 17.0% during the 3rd 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 during the period. 92.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total value of $604,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,568,162. The trade was 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 accessible through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Assurant Price Performance

Assurant stock traded down $5.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $206.83. 1,361,802 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 349,234. 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. The firm has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 0.61. The company's fifty day moving average is $208.49 and its 200-day moving average is $206.52.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Assurant's payout ratio is 22.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $251.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assurant from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $212.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Truist Financial raised their price objective 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, StockNews.com cut shares of Assurant from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.17.

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.