Sciencast Management LP Acquires New Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Sciencast Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 6,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,467,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AIZ. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,320,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $708,016,000 after purchasing an additional 891,292 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assurant in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,430,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Assurant in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,630,000. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 45.0% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 281,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,764,000 after purchasing an additional 87,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $231,392,000 after purchasing an additional 65,874 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AIZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Assurant from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $212.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Assurant in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.17.

Assurant Stock Down 2.5 %

NYSE:AIZ opened at $206.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 0.61. Assurant, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.12 and a twelve month high of $230.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company’s 50 day moving average is $208.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $206.66.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.83. Assurant had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 17.25%. Analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total value of $604,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,568,162. This represents a 14.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.