Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Piper Sandler

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by research analysts at Piper Sandler in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $205.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective points to a potential upside of 23.31% from the company’s current price.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Assurant from $182.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Assurant currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.25.

Assurant Stock Performance

Assurant stock opened at $166.25 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.56. Assurant has a fifty-two week low of $122.42 and a fifty-two week high of $189.48.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $4.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.91. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 20.08% and a net margin of 6.73%. As a group, analysts expect that Assurant will post 16.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 2,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.29, for a total value of $365,304.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $648,923.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Assurant news, insider Robert Lonergan sold 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.12, for a total transaction of $475,524.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,484,710.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 2,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.29, for a total transaction of $365,304.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $648,923.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,788 shares of company stock worth $2,248,489 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assurant

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AIZ. Mariner LLC increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 5,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant in the 3rd quarter worth $238,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 23,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,335,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 8,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 50,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,311,000 after purchasing an additional 5,027 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Assurant

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.