Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) by 4.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,515 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,488 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.10% of Assurant worth $10,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,918 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,080,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,745 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $995,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 116,331 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $24,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,163 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 37.4% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 210,136 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $44,076,000 after acquiring an additional 57,201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on AIZ. Morgan Stanley set a $217.00 price objective on shares of Assurant and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Assurant from $224.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Assurant from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Assurant from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $228.67.

Assurant Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE AIZ traded down $2.21 on Monday, reaching $191.26. The company had a trading volume of 462,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 428,799. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.91 and a beta of 0.59. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.12 and a 1 year high of $230.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $197.74 and a 200-day moving average of $202.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.06 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 15.49% and a net margin of 5.55%. Assurant's quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.78 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Assurant's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.94%.

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 transaction of $201,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,775 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,725.75. This represents a 7.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company's stock.

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.