Marshall Wace LLP Has $38.84 Million Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 182,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,290 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Assurant were worth $38,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake 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 buying an additional 891,292 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Assurant in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $143,475,000. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Assurant by 45.0% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 281,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,764,000 after acquiring an additional 87,323 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Assurant by 42.4% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 213,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,533,000 after purchasing an additional 63,550 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 192,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,243,000 after purchasing an additional 62,696 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total value of $604,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,568,162. This trade represents a 14.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on AIZ. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler raised Assurant from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Assurant from $230.00 to $224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.17.

Assurant Stock Down 0.7 %

AIZ stock opened at $189.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 0.53. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $202.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $206.81. Assurant, Inc. has a 1-year low of $160.12 and a 1-year high of $230.55.

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

About Assurant

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.