Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Receives $229.50 Average Target Price from Analysts

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $229.50.

Several research firms recently commented on AIZ. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Assurant in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

Assurant Price Performance

AIZ stock opened at $211.85 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $214.05 and a 200-day moving average of $193.92. Assurant has a 12-month low of $160.12 and a 12-month high of $230.55.

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

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is an increase from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assurant

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in Assurant by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Assurant during the second quarter worth approximately $2,294,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Assurant by 20.4% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 566,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,118,000 after purchasing an additional 96,021 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 2,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 131,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,878,000 after buying an additional 20,261 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.