ING Groep NV Buys Shares of 2,318 Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

ING Groep NV bought a new stake in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assurant in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Assurant in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Assurant by 509.4% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Assurant in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Assurant in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Assurant Trading Up 1.3 %

AIZ opened at $202.64 on Tuesday. Assurant, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.12 and a fifty-two week high of $230.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.00 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $210.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $204.15.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.83. Assurant had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 17.25%. As a group, research analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Assurant’s payout ratio is 22.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company’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 directly owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,568,162. This represents a 14.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AIZ shares. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of 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 report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Assurant in a report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price target on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.17.

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.