GW&K Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

GW&K Investment Management LLC lessened its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 259,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,406 shares during the quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Assurant were worth $62,491,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 5,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 17,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,110,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 15,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,448,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on AIZ. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Assurant from $270.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Assurant from $268.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Morgan Stanley raised Assurant from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $240.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen cut Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Assurant from $255.00 to $246.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.83.

Assurant Trading Down 0.4%

AIZ opened at $250.91 on Wednesday. Assurant, Inc. has a 12 month low of $183.39 and a 12 month high of $260.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.83 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $237.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.29.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $5.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.29 by $0.66. Assurant had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 7.60%.The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.79 EPS. Assurant’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 21.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Assurant’s payout ratio is 18.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assurant news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 2,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.77, for a total transaction of $503,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 12,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,213,592.28. The trade was a 13.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Keith Meier sold 25,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.31, for a total value of $6,357,750.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 18,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,717,959.12. This trade represents a 57.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 31,650 shares of company stock valued at $7,930,981 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

About Assurant

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.