Graham Capital Management L.P. Lowers Stock Holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Graham Capital Management L.P. reduced its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 30.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 644 shares during the quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Assurant by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,320,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $708,016,000 after buying an additional 891,292 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Assurant by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,399,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $299,724,000 after acquiring an additional 10,956 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Assurant by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 831,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $177,370,000 after purchasing an additional 156,364 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Assurant during the 4th quarter valued at $143,475,000. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its position in Assurant by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 607,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $129,522,000 after purchasing an additional 7,211 shares during the period. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Assurant Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE AIZ opened at $201.97 on Friday. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $160.12 and a 1 year high of $230.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a PE ratio of 13.96 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business’s 50-day moving average is $198.26 and its 200 day moving average is $207.03.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $3.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.61. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.25% and a net margin of 6.40%. The business had revenue of $3.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Assurant from $230.00 to $224.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler upgraded Assurant from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Assurant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.17.

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.