denkapparat Operations GmbH Purchases Shares of 1,324 Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

denkapparat Operations GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Assurant in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Assurant in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Assurant by 127.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Assurant by 219.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Assurant by 503.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 193 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Assurant Stock Performance

NYSE:AIZ opened at $211.82 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 0.61. Assurant, Inc. has a twelve month low of $160.12 and a twelve month high of $230.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $209.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.03.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The financial services provider reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.83. Assurant had a net margin of 6.40% and a return on equity of 17.25%. On average, analysts anticipate that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total value of $604,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 17,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,568,162. This represents a 14.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AIZ. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Assurant from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $212.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Assurant in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $234.17.

Assurant 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.