Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 698,300 shares, a decline of 9.4% from the November 30th total of 770,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 357,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total value of $627,540.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,321,240.44. The trade was a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assurant

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Assurant by 11,480.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 464,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,460,000 after purchasing an additional 460,937 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Assurant by 32.5% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,041,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,179,000 after purchasing an additional 255,471 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assurant in the third quarter valued at $48,430,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Assurant during the 3rd quarter worth $284,730,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,630,000. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AIZ shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Assurant in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial upped their price target on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $229.50.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of Assurant stock traded up $0.95 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $213.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 234,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 351,426. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $213.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $193.49. Assurant has a 12-month low of $160.12 and a 12-month high of $230.55. The company has a market capitalization of $10.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.21 and a beta of 0.61. 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 (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Assurant will post 15.38 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This is a boost from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.82%.

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.