Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Short Interest Down 7.7% in October

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) saw a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 697,100 shares, a decrease of 7.7% from the October 15th total of 755,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 335,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In related news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total transaction of $627,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available through this link. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Assurant

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Assurant during the third quarter worth $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Assurant during the second quarter worth $31,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Assurant by 62.1% during the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 509.4% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Assurant in the third quarter valued at $42,000. 92.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Assurant Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:AIZ opened at $218.82 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Assurant has a 12-month low of $159.32 and a 12-month high of $219.05. The business’s 50 day moving average is $197.03 and its 200 day moving average is $182.78.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.20.

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.