Vest Financial LLC Purchases New Shares in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Vest Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 16,428 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,446,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Assurant by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,320,590 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $708,016,000 after buying an additional 891,292 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Assurant during the 4th quarter worth approximately $143,475,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 1,499.1% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 344,128 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $73,375,000 after acquiring an additional 322,608 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Assurant by 20,818.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 308,123 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $646,290,000 after purchasing an additional 306,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Assurant in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,365,000. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AIZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Assurant from $224.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Piper Sandler upgraded Assurant from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Assurant from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $217.00 price target on Assurant and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $228.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assurant news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 1,000 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant Trading Down 1.5%

AIZ stock traded down $2.90 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $195.78. 320,714 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 423,958. Assurant, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.57 and a 52-week high of $230.55. The stock's fifty day moving average is $194.97 and its 200-day moving average is $205.82. The company has a market cap of $9.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53 and a beta of 0.61. 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 (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $3.39 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $3.06 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.25% and a net margin of 6.40%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Assurant's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.94%.

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.