Bank of New York Mellon Corp Purchases 420,069 Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) by 12.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,740,659 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 420,069 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 7.35% of Assurant worth $784,603,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC increased its holdings in Assurant by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 553 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Assurant by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $995,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Assurant by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 364 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in Assurant by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,918 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,080,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assurant Stock Up 0.0%

AIZ stock traded up $0.08 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $190.34. 202,718 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 427,774. The firm's 50 day moving average is $197.65 and its 200 day moving average is $202.41. Assurant, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.33 and a twelve month high of $230.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 0.59.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $3.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.61. Assurant had a return on equity of 15.49% and a net margin of 5.55%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.78 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Assurant's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AIZ shares. 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. Wall Street Zen lowered Assurant from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Assurant from $224.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $217.00 target price on Assurant and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $228.67.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In other news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.93, for a total value of $201,930.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,775 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,725.75. This represents a 7.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.