Wealthfront Advisers LLC Buys Shares of 3,306 Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,306 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $705,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in Assurant by 4.4% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Assurant by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 845 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $168,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Assurant by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 171,370 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $34,079,000 after purchasing an additional 24,887 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AIZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assurant from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $212.00 to $230.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $251.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Assurant from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.17.

Assurant Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AIZ traded up $1.16 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $213.76. 316,162 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 345,130. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $208.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $206.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $10.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 0.61. Assurant, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.12 and a fifty-two week high of $230.55.

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

Assurant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Assurant's payout ratio is 22.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,708 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,568,162. The trade was a 14.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company's stock.

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.