As previously reported, BofA/Merrill upgraded Assurant two notches to Buy from Underperform and increased its price target to $89 from $60. The firm views Assurant as a much cleaner story due to the wind-down of Health and disposition of Employee Benefits underway. BofA/Merrill said Specialty Property continues to beat expectations and recent management commentary increases confidence in Lender-Placed-Insurance margins. Additionally, the company will have significant levels of excess capital, at least $1.3B, available for immediate deployment by the end of 2016, in addition to $700M of buybacks and shareholder dividends.