Contrasting Assurant (AIZ) & Its Peers

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) is one of 311 public companies in the “Insurance” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Assurant to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Assurant and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Assurant	$12.81 billion	$872.70 million	14.76
Assurant Competitors	$15.39 billion	$1.70 billion	35.04

Assurant’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Assurant. Assurant is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.7% of Assurant shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.8% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Assurant shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.5% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Assurant has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Assurant’s competitors have a beta of -1.55, indicating that their average share price is 255% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Assurant and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Assurant	7.90%	20.40%	3.34%
Assurant Competitors	9.12%	-9.91%	4.08%

Dividends

Assurant pays an annual dividend of $3.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Assurant pays out 16.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Insurance” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.8% and pay out 30.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Assurant has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Assurant and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Assurant	0	0	6	2	3.25
Assurant Competitors	3324	15644	16489	738	2.40

Assurant currently has a consensus price target of $324.29, indicating a potential upside of 4.95%. As a group, “Insurance” companies have a potential upside of 3.01%. Given Assurant’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Assurant is more favorable than its competitors.

Summary

Assurant beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

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. The Global Housing segment provides lender-placed homeowners, manufactured housing, and flood insurance; renters insurance and related products; and voluntary manufactured housing, and condominium and homeowners insurance products. The company was formerly known as Fortis, Inc. and changed its name to Assurant, Inc. in February 2004. Assurant, Inc. was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.