Assurant, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.80 (NYSE:AIZ)

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 17th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.80 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd.

Assurant has a dividend payout ratio of 16.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Assurant to earn $17.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.8%.

Assurant Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AIZ stock traded down $0.29 on Friday, hitting $211.39. The company had a trading volume of 345,470 shares, compared to its average volume of 295,610. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $215.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $10.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.08 and a beta of 0.62. Assurant has a twelve month low of $160.12 and a twelve month high of $230.55.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.48. Assurant had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Assurant will post 15.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $229.50.

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.