Bank of Montreal Can Trims Holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Bank of Montreal Can reduced its stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) by 12.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,348 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 5,663 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.08% of Assurant worth $8,816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AIZ. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Assurant in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Assurant by 127.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Assurant by 219.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 150 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Assurant by 503.1% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 287 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Assurant from $230.00 to $224.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com cut Assurant from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler upgraded Assurant from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $234.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total value of $604,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,708 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,568,162. This represents a 14.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:AIZ traded down $1.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $189.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 432,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 382,383. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $202.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $206.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Assurant, Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.12 and a 12 month high of $230.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.61 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 0.53.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.83. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.25% and a net margin of 6.40%. On average, research analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.