Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Shares Sold by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board decreased its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 6.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 232 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Assurant were worth $712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Assurant by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,041,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,179,000 after purchasing an additional 255,471 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Assurant by 1.9% in the 2nd 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. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Assurant by 20.4% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 566,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,118,000 after purchasing an additional 96,021 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in Assurant by 11,480.4% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 464,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $92,460,000 after buying an additional 460,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Assurant by 0.7% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 383,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,765,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AIZ. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.20.

Assurant Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of AIZ stock opened at $225.17 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.57. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.12 and a 1 year high of $225.47. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $198.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Assurant had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.05 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. This is an increase from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.54%.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,321,240.44. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 insiders.

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.