Assurant, Inc. $AIZ Shares Sold by Kennedy Capital Management LLC

Kennedy Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,579 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Assurant were worth $19,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AIZ. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Assurant by 37.9% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 37,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,046,000 after purchasing an additional 10,200 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Assurant by 1,823.1% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 45,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,871,000 after buying an additional 43,026 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Assurant by 25.6% during the third quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 274,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,537,000 after buying an additional 56,009 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Assurant by 1.3% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 455,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,872,000 after buying an additional 6,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Assurant by 23.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,010,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,085,247,000 after buying an additional 959,259 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Trading Up 1.2%

AIZ traded up $2.50 on Friday, hitting $217.80. The company had a trading volume of 13,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 403,250. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $230.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $224.36. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $174.97 and a 1 year high of $246.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $10.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.83 and a beta of 0.58.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $5.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.55 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.81% and a return on equity of 18.65%. Assurant’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AIZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Assurant from $248.00 to $254.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Assurant from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Assurant from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assurant in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Assurant from $255.00 to $246.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assurant currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $258.17.

Assurant Company Profile

Assurant, Inc is a global provider of risk management products and services, specializing in the housing and lifestyle markets. The company offers insurance and related products designed to help consumers protect their homes, personal belongings, and electronic devices. Its core offerings include renters insurance, manufactured housing finance, flood insurance, mobile device protection plans, and extended service contracts for appliances and electronics.

Within its Global Housing segment, Assurant partners with mortgage lenders, financial institutions and government agencies to deliver specialty insurance and risk mitigation services.