Morgan Stanley Begins Coverage on Assurant (NYSE:AIZ)

Research analysts at Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 11.83% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.50.

Assurant Price Performance

Assurant stock opened at $224.44 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $11.51 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 0.61. Assurant has a 12 month low of $160.12 and a 12 month high of $230.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $205.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $187.19.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Assurant will post 15.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total transaction of $627,540.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,321,240.44. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assurant

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AIZ. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Assurant by 443.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,442,000 after acquiring an additional 10,587 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 75.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 6,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,216,000 after buying an additional 2,778 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 37.8% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 49.7% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the period. Finally, Csenge Advisory Group raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 41.4% in the second quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 2,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 747 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.