Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage on Assurant (NYSE:AIZ)

Investment analysts at Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 11.94% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on AIZ. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group increased 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assurant presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.50.

Assurant Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AIZ opened at $224.22 on Thursday. Assurant has a 52 week low of $160.12 and a 52 week high of $230.55. The company’s 50 day moving average is $206.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $187.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a PE ratio of 15.99 and a beta of 0.61.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS 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 company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Assurant will post 15.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,658 shares in the company, valued at $4,321,240.44. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Assurant

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Assurant by 443.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,442,000 after acquiring an additional 10,587 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Assurant by 75.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 6,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,216,000 after acquiring an additional 2,778 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in Assurant by 37.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Assurant by 49.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Csenge Advisory Group increased its holdings in Assurant by 41.4% during the 2nd quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

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.