Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Assurant has a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy", with 9 of 10 analysts rating it a buy and an average price target of about $275.83.
• The company recently beat first-quarter expectations, posting $5.95 EPS versus $5.29 expected and $3.42 billion in revenue, up 11.3% year over year.
• Assurant also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.88 per share, payable June 29, which implies an annualized yield of about 1.4%.

Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $275.8333.

Several research firms have weighed in on AIZ. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Assurant from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $240.00 to $285.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Assurant from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Assurant from $255.00 to $246.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Assurant from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Assurant from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 2,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $511,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,741 shares in the company, valued at $700,818.88. The trade was a 42.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Subhashish Sengupta sold 1,880 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.53, for a total transaction of $395,796.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $609,484.35. This trade represents a 39.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,650 shares of company stock valued at $7,930,981. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assurant

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,040,347 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,213,968,000 after buying an additional 29,974 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Assurant by 22.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,125,406 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $245,121,000 after purchasing an additional 205,767 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Assurant by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 697,555 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $168,006,000 after purchasing an additional 49,698 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Assurant in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $161,574,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Assurant by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 640,431 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $154,248,000 after purchasing an additional 31,432 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Assurant Stock Performance

NYSE:AIZ opened at $257.81 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $238.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.52. Assurant has a twelve month low of $183.39 and a twelve month high of $260.96. The company has a market capitalization of $12.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19 and a beta of 0.56.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $5.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.29 by $0.66. Assurant had a net margin of 7.60% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.79 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Assurant will post 21.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Assurant's payout ratio is 18.01%.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc is a global provider of risk management products and services, specializing in the housing and lifestyle markets. The company offers insurance and related products designed to help consumers protect their homes, personal belongings, and electronic devices. Its core offerings include renters insurance, manufactured housing finance, flood insurance, mobile device protection plans, and extended service contracts for appliances and electronics.

Within its Global Housing segment, Assurant partners with mortgage lenders, financial institutions and government agencies to deliver specialty insurance and risk mitigation services.

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