Nomura Holdings Inc. Takes $361,000 Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $361,000.

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

Insider Activity at Assurant

In other news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.93, for a total transaction of $201,930.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,775 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,725.75. This represents a 7.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on AIZ shares. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Assurant from $224.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $217.00 price objective on Assurant and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen raised Assurant from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Assurant from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $228.67.

Assurant Stock Performance

NYSE AIZ traded down $1.37 on Wednesday, hitting $199.63. 187,993 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 469,087. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Assurant, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.12 and a fifty-two week high of $230.55. The firm has a market cap of $10.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 0.59. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $196.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $206.99.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $3.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.61. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.25% and a net margin of 6.40%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Assurant's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.94%.

Assurant Company Profile

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.