Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Stake Lessened by TD Asset Management Inc.

TD Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 499,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 37,727 shares during the quarter. TD Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $106,571,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in 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 worth $708,016,000 after acquiring an additional 891,292 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased 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 during the period. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 281,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,764,000 after purchasing an additional 87,323 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant in the third quarter worth approximately $48,430,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 48.4% during the third 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 during the period. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Assurant from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $212.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Assurant currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.17.

Assurant Stock Up 0.7 %

Assurant stock opened at $210.83 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Assurant, Inc. has a 1-year low of $160.12 and a 1-year high of $230.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $208.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $206.96. The company has a market capitalization of $10.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Assurant Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. Assurant’s payout ratio is currently 22.11%.

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.