Toronto Dominion Bank Grows Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank owned about 0.05% of Assurant worth $5,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of Assurant by 11,480.4% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 464,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $92,460,000 after purchasing an additional 460,937 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,041,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,179,000 after acquiring an additional 255,471 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assurant in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,430,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assurant during the 3rd quarter worth about $284,730,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Assurant during the third quarter worth approximately $26,630,000. 92.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Assurant from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Assurant from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Assurant from $217.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $229.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assurant

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total value of $627,540.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 20,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,321,240.44. The trade was a 12.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Assurant Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AIZ opened at $217.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. Assurant, Inc. has a one year low of $160.12 and a one year high of $230.55. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $208.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $189.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.61.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.48. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.29 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.38 EPS for the current year.

Assurant Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. This is a positive change from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.82%.

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.