Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) Raises Dividend to $0.80 Per Share

Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of 0.80 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, December 30th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. This is a boost from Assurant’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72.

Assurant has raised its dividend by an average of 3.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 20 consecutive years. Assurant has a payout ratio of 16.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Assurant to earn $17.76 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.2%.

Assurant Price Performance

NYSE:AIZ traded up $1.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $220.79. 43,520 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 348,487. The company has a market cap of $11.32 billion, a PE ratio of 15.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.57. Assurant has a 1 year low of $160.12 and a 1 year high of $222.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a current ratio of 0.42. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $198.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.47.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Transactions at Assurant

In other news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total value of $627,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,321,240.44. This trade represents a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

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.