Dimitry Dirienzo Sells 950 Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Stock

Key Points

• Assurant, Inc. CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 950 shares of the stock at an average price of $204.96, leading to a 23.26% decrease in his ownership.
• The company reported $5.56 earnings per share for the last quarter, significantly beating the consensus estimate of $4.43 and showing an 8.0% year-over-year revenue increase.
• Assurant recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.80 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 1.5% with a payout ratio of 23.17%.

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 950 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.96, for a total value of $194,712.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at $642,549.60. This represents a 23.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Assurant Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of AIZ stock traded down $0.12 on Friday, reaching $212.81. The company had a trading volume of 578,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 435,513. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $10.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $194.56 and a 200-day moving average of $199.09. Assurant, Inc. has a 12 month low of $174.97 and a 12 month high of $230.55.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $5.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.43 by $1.13. Assurant had a return on equity of 16.47% and a net margin of 5.83%. The business had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.77 EPS. Assurant's revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast 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, September 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Assurant's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.17%.

Institutional Trading of Assurant

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Assurant by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,335 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Assurant by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Assurant by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,527 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. boosted its position in Assurant by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 4,556 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $900,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in Assurant by 47.3% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 190 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AIZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Assurant from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Benchmark initiated coverage on Assurant in a report on Tuesday. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Assurant from $217.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Assurant from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on Assurant in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an "overweight" rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $231.57.

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.