Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) Rating Reiterated by Stephens

Stephens reissued their overweight rating on shares of Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $79.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Stewart Information Services currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $69.33.

Stewart Information Services Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of STC stock opened at $62.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.09 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Stewart Information Services has a fifty-two week low of $36.81 and a fifty-two week high of $65.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.97.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $554.32 million for the quarter. Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 1.83% and a return on equity of 4.69%. On average, analysts anticipate that Stewart Information Services will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Stewart Information Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 125.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Matthew Morris sold 12,000 shares of Stewart Information Services stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.11, for a total value of $757,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 76,867 shares in the company, valued at $4,851,076.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Stewart Information Services

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in Stewart Information Services by 5.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 10,766 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Stewart Information Services by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 136,935 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,045,000 after purchasing an additional 17,451 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in Stewart Information Services by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 705,777 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $41,464,000 after purchasing an additional 31,211 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Stewart Information Services by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 15,930 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $936,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Stewart Information Services during the third quarter valued at $227,000. Institutional investors own 96.90% of the company’s stock.

Stewart Information Services Company Profile

Stewart Information Services Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides title insurance and real estate transaction related services in the United States and internationally. The company involves in searching, examining, closing, and insuring the condition of the title to real property. It also offers home and personal insurance services; services for tax-deferred exchanges; and digital customer engagement platform services.