Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Reduces Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 26.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,823 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Assurant were worth $3,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AIZ. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,320,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $708,016,000 after buying an additional 891,292 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assurant during the third quarter worth $48,430,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant during the third quarter valued at $26,630,000. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 281,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,764,000 after purchasing an additional 87,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in Assurant by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,163,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,392,000 after buying an additional 65,874 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AIZ. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Assurant from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $212.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com lowered Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assurant presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.17.

Assurant Price Performance

AIZ opened at $212.29 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.78 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50-day moving average is $209.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $206.99. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.12 and a 1 year high of $230.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.83. Assurant had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 17.25%. Research analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Assurant’s payout ratio is 22.11%.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total transaction of $604,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,568,162. The trade was a 14.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.