Assurant lower to Impartial at Piper as catalysts in large part performed out (NYSE:AIZ)

• Piper Sandler downgraded Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) to Neutral from Overweight, noting that after the company’s stock outperformed for the last couple of years, many of its catalysts have now played out.
• Shares are now trading within 0.5x of their five-year average of 11.4x. AIZ offers product service contracts and housing-related insurance products.
• “Piper has seen AIZ deliver on a number of catalysts over the last couple of years, leaving its ’25E assuming more modest growth in earnings of ~3% with these catalysts now in the rearview mirror creating tougher growth comps,” analyst John Barnidge wrote in a note to clients.
• The downgrade also comes as Assurant (AIZ) is in its most catastrophe-exposed earnings quarter as the biggest part of its exposure in global housing is coastal (~33%), he added.
• Piper’s Neutral rating on AIZ aligns with the SA Quant rating of Hold and diverges from the average Wall Street rating of Strong Buy.
• Assurant (AIZ) stock slipped 0.3% in Thursday morning trading.

This was corrected on 08/22/2024 at 11:06 AM. In sixth paragraph, corrects average Wall Street rating to Strong Buy from Buy.