Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Stake in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 9.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 88,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,733 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Assurant were worth $21,221,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC bought a new stake in Assurant in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 65.6% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA bought a new position in Assurant during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Assurant by 360.0% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AIZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Assurant from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $240.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $268.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Assurant from $270.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Assurant presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.83.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of Assurant stock opened at $249.21 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $12.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $232.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $231.05. Assurant, Inc. has a one year low of $183.39 and a one year high of $260.96.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $5.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.29 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.29 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 7.60%.Assurant’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.79 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 21.04 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Assurant’s payout ratio is currently 18.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Subhashish Sengupta sold 1,880 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.53, for a total transaction of $395,796.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $609,484.35. This represents a 39.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Keith Meier sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.31, for a total value of $6,357,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,717,959.12. The trade was a 57.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,650 shares of company stock valued at $7,930,981. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc is a global provider of risk management products and services, specializing in the housing and lifestyle markets. The company offers insurance and related products designed to help consumers protect their homes, personal belongings, and electronic devices. Its core offerings include renters insurance, manufactured housing finance, flood insurance, mobile device protection plans, and extended service contracts for appliances and electronics.

Within its Global Housing segment, Assurant partners with mortgage lenders, financial institutions and government agencies to deliver specialty insurance and risk mitigation services.