Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Takes $442,000 Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP acquired a new stake in shares of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $442,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 104.6% during the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assurant during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 52.0% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Assurant by 839.4% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AIZ. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Assurant from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Assurant from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Assurant from $191.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Assurant presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.20.

Assurant Stock Performance

Assurant stock traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $177.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 295,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 353,045. The firm has a market cap of $9.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.78, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $178.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Assurant, Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.77 and a twelve month high of $189.48.

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

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.