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

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.80 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, December 30th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. This is an increase from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72.

Assurant has raised its dividend by an average of 3.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 20 consecutive years. Assurant has a dividend payout ratio of 16.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Assurant to earn $17.76 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.2%.

Assurant Price Performance

Assurant stock traded down $2.43 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $219.17. The stock had a trading volume of 360,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 349,848. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.57. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $197.60 and its 200 day moving average is $183.16. Assurant has a one year low of $160.12 and a one year high of $221.94.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Assurant had a net margin of 6.31% and a return on equity of 17.42%. Assurant’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.29 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Assurant will post 15.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 represents a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AIZ. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Assurant presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.20.

Assurant Company Profile

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.