Bank of Montreal Can Boosts Stock Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,016 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.09% of Assurant worth $9,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 32.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,041,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,179,000 after purchasing an additional 255,471 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Assurant by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 698,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,159,000 after buying an additional 12,935 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Assurant by 20.4% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 566,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,118,000 after acquiring an additional 96,021 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 11,480.4% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 464,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $92,460,000 after acquiring an additional 460,937 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 0.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 383,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,765,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on AIZ. Bank of America boosted their price target on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Assurant presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total value of $627,540.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,321,240.44. This represents a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant Price Performance

AIZ stock opened at $227.10 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.21. Assurant, Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.12 and a 52 week high of $230.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.57.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This is a positive change from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.54%.

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.