Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,317 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $14,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assurant in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Assurant by 62.1% in the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Assurant in the second quarter worth about $51,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 40.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Assurant by 35.7% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AIZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.44, for a total transaction of $103,642.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $593,962.88. The trade was a 14.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total transaction of $627,540.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,321,240.44. The trade was a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of AIZ opened at $218.82 on Friday. Assurant, Inc. has a 52-week low of $159.32 and a 52-week high of $219.05. The stock has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a PE ratio of 15.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $197.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.48. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. Assurant’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.29 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.