Hennessy Advisors Inc. Has $11.51 Million Holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 54,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $11,514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in Assurant by 60.0% during the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 4,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $863,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in shares of Assurant in the fourth quarter worth $184,000. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 31,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,663,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 6,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,384,000 after buying an additional 1,411 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Assurant in the 4th quarter valued at $986,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total transaction of $627,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,321,240.44. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Assurant has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.50.

Assurant Trading Up 1.2 %

Assurant stock opened at $211.53 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $215.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Assurant, Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.12 and a 12 month high of $230.55. The stock has a market cap of $10.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 0.62.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. Assurant’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.38 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. This is an increase from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Assurant’s payout ratio is presently 22.82%.

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.