Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) Reaches New 12-Month High at $185.43

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $185.43 and last traded at $184.73, with a volume of 69172 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $181.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AIZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Assurant from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. UBS Group upped their price target on Assurant from $191.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Assurant from $185.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.60.

Assurant Stock Up 2.3 %

The company has a fifty day moving average of $175.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $163.81. The company has a market cap of $9.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.41.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $4.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.88. Assurant had a return on equity of 18.36% and a net margin of 5.77%. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Assurant’s payout ratio is 24.04%.

Institutional Trading of Assurant

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its stake in Assurant by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 31,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,262,000 after purchasing an additional 13,932 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Assurant by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 255,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,089,000 after purchasing an additional 19,839 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Assurant in the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 22,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,732,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

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.