Vestcor Inc Reduces Stake in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Vestcor Inc lowered its stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 78.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,439 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Assurant were worth $159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 15.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 124,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,076,000 after buying an additional 16,388 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Assurant by 25.6% during the third quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 274,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,537,000 after acquiring an additional 56,009 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Assurant by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 185,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,786,000 after acquiring an additional 26,678 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Assurant by 603.6% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,547,000 after acquiring an additional 6,127 shares during the period. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 2.1% in the third quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 310,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $67,320,000 after purchasing an additional 6,277 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Trading Up 2.7%

AIZ opened at $257.81 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $238.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $232.52. The company has a market capitalization of $12.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19 and a beta of 0.56. Assurant, Inc. has a 52 week low of $183.39 and a 52 week high of $260.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $5.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.29 by $0.66. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.29 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 7.60%.Assurant’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.79 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 21.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AIZ. UBS Group boosted their price target on Assurant from $270.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Assurant from $268.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Assurant from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Assurant from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Assurant from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Assurant presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $275.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Assurant news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.77, for a total transaction of $503,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 12,764 shares in the company, valued at $3,213,592.28. This represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Subhashish Sengupta sold 1,880 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.53, for a total value of $395,796.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $609,484.35. This represents a 39.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 31,650 shares of company stock worth $7,930,981 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

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.