Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) Stock Price

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) had its target price boosted by Morgan Stanley from $200.00 to $217.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 6.94% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on AIZ. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Assurant from $230.00 to $224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Assurant from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Assurant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.50.

Assurant Stock Up 0.3%

Assurant stock traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $202.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 54,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 391,030. 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 capitalization of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.02 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $198.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.14. Assurant has a 52-week low of $160.12 and a 52-week high of $230.55.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $3.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.06 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 17.25%. Assurant’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.78 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Assurant will post 16.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In other Assurant 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 transaction of $604,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,568,162. This represents a 14.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assurant

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,593,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in shares of Assurant by 47.3% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in Assurant by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Assurant by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $995,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Assurant by 127.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

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.