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

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 709,200 shares, a decline of 6.7% from the September 15th total of 759,900 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 340,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 550 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.44, for a total transaction of $103,642.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,152 shares in the company, valued at $593,962.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CAO Dimitry Dirienzo sold 550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.44, for a total value of $103,642.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $593,962.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Martin Jenns sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.13, for a total value of $267,195.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $717,329.51. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Assurant

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Assurant by 32.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,041,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,179,000 after purchasing an additional 255,471 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in shares of Assurant in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,013,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Assurant by 20.4% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 566,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,118,000 after acquiring an additional 96,021 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Assurant by 151.7% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 143,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,998,000 after acquiring an additional 86,448 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 31.9% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,101,000 after acquiring an additional 57,990 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AIZ shares. Bank of America upped 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. 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. UBS Group upped their price target on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Assurant from $186.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.60.

Assurant Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AIZ opened at $198.21 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $192.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.27. Assurant has a fifty-two week low of $144.61 and a fifty-two week high of $201.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.50. Assurant had a return on equity of 19.63% and a net margin of 6.90%. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Assurant will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.10%.

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.