Boston Partners Sells 846 Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Boston Partners lowered its holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 33,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 846 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in Assurant were worth $7,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,320,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $708,016,000 after buying an additional 891,292 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Assurant by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,163,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $231,392,000 after acquiring an additional 65,874 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 45.0% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 281,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,764,000 after acquiring an additional 87,323 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assurant during the 3rd quarter worth $48,430,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Assurant by 48.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 192,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,243,000 after purchasing an additional 62,696 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AIZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Assurant from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $212.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.17.

Assurant Price Performance

AIZ stock opened at $206.83 on Friday. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.12 and a 1 year high of $230.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $208.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.59.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.83. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.25% and a net margin of 6.40%. Research analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total value of $604,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,568,162. The trade was a 14.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Assurant Company 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.