Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Takes Position in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 8,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,931,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Assurant by 72.6% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Assurant by 5.4% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Assurant by 3.9% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Investment Management Co. grew its holdings in Assurant by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 4,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $900,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of AIZ opened at $233.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. Assurant, Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.97 and a 1-year high of $243.76. The stock has a market cap of $11.68 billion, a PE ratio of 14.20 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $232.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $216.79.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $5.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.23 by $1.50. Assurant had a return on equity of 18.61% and a net margin of 6.75%.The company had revenue of $3.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. This is a positive change from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AIZ. Zacks Research lowered shares of Assurant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Assurant from $248.00 to $254.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Assurant in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Truist Financial set a $255.00 price objective on Assurant in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Assurant from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $252.67.

Assurant Profile

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.