Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Takes $442,000 Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP bought a new stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $442,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AIZ. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Assurant by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC lifted its stake in Assurant by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 2,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Assurant by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,455,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Assurant by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 2,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in Assurant by 104.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on AIZ. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Assurant from $191.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Assurant from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $170.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Assurant from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.20.

Assurant Trading Up 0.4 %

AIZ traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $177.05. 295,311 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 353,045. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $178.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $168.69. Assurant, Inc. has a 1-year low of $115.77 and a 1-year high of $189.48. The company has a market cap of $9.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.78, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $4.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.88. Assurant had a net margin of 5.77% and a return on equity of 18.36%. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.