Valtrion Capital Management LLC Makes New $601,000 Investment in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Valtrion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $601,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AIZ. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,040,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,213,968,000 after purchasing an additional 29,974 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Assurant during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,345,211,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Assurant by 22.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,125,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $245,121,000 after buying an additional 205,767 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Assurant by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 697,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $168,006,000 after buying an additional 49,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Assurant during the fourth quarter worth $161,574,000. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AIZ. Wall Street Zen cut Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings raised Assurant from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Assurant from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Assurant from $274.00 to $331.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $310.00 target price on shares of Assurant in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $316.57.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of AIZ opened at $284.76 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $277.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $248.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Assurant, Inc. has a twelve month low of $205.01 and a twelve month high of $303.94. The company has a market cap of $14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60 and a beta of 0.55.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $6.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $1.24. Assurant had a return on equity of 20.40% and a net margin of 7.90%.The business had revenue of $3.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 22.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Assurant’s payout ratio is 16.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Nair Biju sold 3,931 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.46, for a total value of $1,188,970.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 24,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,333,747.62. This trade represents a 13.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Lonergan sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.71, for a total value of $1,838,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 27,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,191,423.54. This represents a 20.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Assurant Company 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.