Short Interest in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Rises By 10.1%

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 744,900 shares, a growth of 10.1% from the March 15th total of 676,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 369,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Assurant Trading Down 0.9 %

Assurant stock opened at $171.06 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $178.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $167.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.50. Assurant has a 12 month low of $115.41 and a 12 month high of $189.48.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $4.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.88. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. Assurant had a return on equity of 18.36% and a net margin of 5.77%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Assurant will post 15.67 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assurant

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new stake in Assurant during the first quarter worth about $39,013,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Assurant during the 1st quarter worth approximately $343,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Assurant by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in Assurant by 31.1% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,865 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd acquired a new position in Assurant in the first quarter worth $789,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Assurant from $191.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Assurant from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $170.00 to $182.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Assurant from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.20.

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.