Assurant, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.80 (NYSE:AIZ)

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 17th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.80 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd.

Assurant has a payout ratio of 16.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Assurant to earn $17.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.8%.

Assurant Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Assurant stock traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $211.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 345,470 shares, compared to its average volume of 295,610. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $215.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.08 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Assurant has a 1-year low of $160.12 and a 1-year high of $230.55.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Assurant will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,321,240.44. This represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AIZ. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com cut Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Assurant in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.50.

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.