Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 305 Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 29,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Assurant worth $6,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 11,480.4% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 464,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $92,460,000 after buying an additional 460,937 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Assurant in the third quarter worth approximately $48,430,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assurant during the 3rd quarter worth $284,730,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Assurant during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,630,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,163,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,392,000 after purchasing an additional 65,874 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Assurant in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America raised their target price 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. Piper Sandler upped their price target 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Assurant currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,321,240.44. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Trading Up 1.8 %

Assurant stock opened at $211.09 on Friday. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.12 and a 1 year high of $230.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $215.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $198.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $10.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.06 and a beta of 0.62.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.29 EPS. Assurant’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.82%.

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.