Quest Partners LLC Acquires 3,504 Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 369.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,504 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Assurant were worth $885,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AIZ. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Assurant by 35.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Assurant by 84.3% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 6,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 2,874 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in Assurant by 608.5% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,062,000 after acquiring an additional 4,844 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Assurant by 3,412.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 14,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,757,000 after acquiring an additional 14,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC purchased a new position in Assurant during the first quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total transaction of $627,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares in the company, valued at $4,321,240.44. This represents a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of Assurant stock opened at $220.85 on Thursday. Assurant, Inc. has a 52-week low of $160.12 and a 52-week high of $222.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a fifty day moving average of $198.15 and a 200-day moving average of $183.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.48. Assurant had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.05 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This is a boost from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is 20.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AIZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.20.

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.