Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Free Report) by 31.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,755 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,230 shares during the quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC's holdings in Assurant were worth $1,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 127.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 503.1% during the 4th 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. grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 42.8% during the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 1,000 shares of Assurant 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,775 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,725.75. The trade was a 7.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.51% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AIZ shares. Morgan Stanley set a $217.00 price objective on Assurant and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. 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. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Assurant from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Assurant from $224.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assurant has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $228.67.

Assurant Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE AIZ traded down $1.68 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $199.32. 282,774 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 398,890. The company's 50-day moving average is $196.54 and its 200-day moving average is $206.99. Assurant, Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.12 and a 52-week high of $230.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.43.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.61. The company had revenue of $3.07 billion for 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%. Assurant's revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.78 EPS. Analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Assurant's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.94%.

Assurant 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.