Legal & General Group Plc Acquires Shares of 78,597 Assurant, Inc. $AIZ

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 78,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,106,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 17,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,110,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in Assurant by 27.5% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Assurant by 0.9% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 5,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Assurant by 2.5% during the first quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Assurant by 5.4% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on AIZ shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Assurant from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Assurant from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Assurant from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Assurant from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Assurant from $290.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Nair Biju sold 3,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.46, for a total value of $1,188,970.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 24,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,333,747.62. This represents a 13.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Lonergan sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.71, for a total transaction of $1,838,970.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 27,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,191,423.54. This represents a 20.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Assurant stock opened at $285.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $278.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $249.28. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $205.01 and a 1 year high of $303.94.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $6.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.17 by $1.24. Assurant had a return on equity of 20.40% and a net margin of 7.90%.The business had revenue of $3.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.56 EPS. Assurant’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 22.05 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Assurant’s payout ratio is presently 16.81%.

Assurant Company Profile

Assurant, Inc is a global provider of risk management products and services, specializing in the housing and lifestyle markets. The company offers insurance and related products designed to help consumers protect their homes, personal belongings, and electronic devices. Its core offerings include renters insurance, manufactured housing finance, flood insurance, mobile device protection plans, and extended service contracts for appliances and electronics.

Within its Global Housing segment, Assurant partners with mortgage lenders, financial institutions and government agencies to deliver specialty insurance and risk mitigation services.