Korea Investment CORP Has $287,000 Stake in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Korea Investment CORP cut its stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 92.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,164 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Assurant were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AIZ. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in shares of Assurant during the first quarter worth about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC increased its position in Assurant by 193.9% during the 2nd quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 1,133.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 312.8% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Assurant by 57.8% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Assurant from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Assurant in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $238.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial set a $255.00 target price on Assurant in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Assurant from $238.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Assurant from $232.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.00.

Assurant Stock Performance

Shares of Assurant stock opened at $221.29 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $218.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.14. Assurant, Inc. has a one year low of $174.97 and a one year high of $232.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47 and a beta of 0.57.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter. Assurant had a return on equity of 18.61% and a net margin of 6.75%.Assurant has set its FY 2022 guidance at $13.062-$13.512 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This is a boost from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.80. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Keith Demmings sold 13,725 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.52, for a total transaction of $3,026,637.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 84,647 shares in the company, valued at $18,666,356.44. This trade represents a 13.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

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.