Park Avenue Securities LLC Purchases 1,411 Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 27.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Assurant were worth $1,384,000 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 AIZ. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Assurant by 2.3% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 9,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of Assurant by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 159,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,794,000 after acquiring an additional 6,756 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Assurant by 17.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 171,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,079,000 after buying an additional 24,887 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Assurant by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 72,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,370,000 after acquiring an additional 4,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assurant during the 3rd quarter valued at $284,730,000. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of AIZ stock opened at $211.39 on Monday. Assurant, Inc. has a 1-year low of $160.12 and a 1-year high of $230.55. The company has a market cap of $10.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.08 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $215.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.04.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.48. Assurant had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other 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 transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AIZ shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Assurant has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.50.

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.