Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Sells 233 Shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 8.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 233 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AIZ. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Assurant during the fourth quarter worth $143,475,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 12.7% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,740,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $784,603,000 after acquiring an additional 420,069 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 1,499.1% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 344,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,375,000 after acquiring an additional 322,608 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Assurant by 20,818.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 308,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,290,000 after acquiring an additional 306,650 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Assurant during the fourth quarter worth $34,365,000. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Assurant

In other news, EVP Jay Rosenblum sold 1,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.93, for a total value of $201,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,725.75. This trade represents a 7.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AIZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Assurant from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $223.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $217.00 price objective on shares of Assurant and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Assurant from $224.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Assurant presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.67.

Assurant Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of AIZ stock opened at $187.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Assurant, Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.63 and a 1 year high of $230.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $197.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $201.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.61 and a beta of 0.59.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The financial services provider reported $3.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.61. Assurant had a net margin of 5.55% and a return on equity of 15.49%. The firm had revenue of $3.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.94%.

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.