Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 448.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,677 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Assurant were worth $2,820,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AIZ. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 12.7% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,740,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $784,603,000 after buying an additional 420,069 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 28.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,479,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $310,285,000 after buying an additional 323,573 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,095,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 73.3% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 279,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,577,000 after buying an additional 118,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 30.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 367,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,688,000 after buying an additional 85,962 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AIZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Assurant from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $230.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Benchmark assumed coverage on shares of Assurant in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Truist Financial set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Assurant in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Assurant in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assurant news, CEO Keith Demmings sold 13,725 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.52, for a total value of $3,026,637.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 84,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,666,356.44. This trade represents a 13.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 3,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.53, for a total transaction of $813,267.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 7,875 shares in the company, valued at $1,642,173.75. The trade was a 33.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,125 shares of company stock worth $5,917,925. Company insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Stock Up 2.1%

AIZ opened at $212.43 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Assurant, Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.97 and a 1-year high of $230.55. The company has a market capitalization of $10.72 billion, a PE ratio of 15.38 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $213.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $202.25.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter. Assurant had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter. Assurant has set its FY 2022 guidance at $13.062-$13.512 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.17%.

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.