Franklin Resources Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,805 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $1,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AIZ. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Assurant by 6.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,163,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,392,000 after buying an additional 65,874 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Assurant by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,041,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,179,000 after acquiring an additional 255,471 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Assurant by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 698,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,159,000 after purchasing an additional 12,935 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 566,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,118,000 after purchasing an additional 96,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 11,480.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 464,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,460,000 after purchasing an additional 460,937 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AIZ. StockNews.com downgraded Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Assurant has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.50.

Insider Activity

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total value of $627,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of AIZ stock opened at $215.05 on Friday. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.12 and a 1 year high of $230.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The business’s fifty day moving average is $212.18 and its 200-day moving average is $192.38. The stock has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34 and a beta of 0.61.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. Assurant had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.29 earnings per share. Assurant’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This is a boost from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.82%.

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.