Federated Hermes Inc. Lowers Holdings in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 331,628 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 45,347 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Assurant were worth $55,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Assurant by 1.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,721,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $686,934,000 after buying an additional 58,354 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Assurant by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,694,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $712,103,000 after purchasing an additional 237,239 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Assurant by 21.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,238,477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $464,981,000 after purchasing an additional 573,309 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Assurant by 7.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,748,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $394,581,000 after purchasing an additional 191,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Assurant by 6.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,865,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $267,848,000 after purchasing an additional 109,123 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Assurant Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AIZ opened at $173.83 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.50. Assurant, Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.43 and a 12 month high of $189.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $178.56 and its 200 day moving average is $167.93.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $4.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.88. Assurant had a return on equity of 18.36% and a net margin of 5.77%. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. Research analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.67 EPS for the current year.

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.