Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Sells 341 Shares of Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp cut its stake in Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,989 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 341 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp owned 0.09% of Stewart Information Services worth $987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in STC. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its stake in Stewart Information Services by 74.9% during the first quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 698 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stewart Information Services in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Stewart Information Services by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,255 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 848 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Stewart Information Services during the second quarter worth approximately $115,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 92.8% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,960 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 1,425 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

Stewart Information Services Stock Up 1.0 %

STC stock opened at $45.63 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.98. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.65 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. Stewart Information Services Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.01 and a fifty-two week high of $51.72.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 25th. The insurance provider reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.15. Stewart Information Services had a return on equity of 3.84% and a net margin of 1.50%. The company had revenue of $601.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $573.37 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. Stewart Information Services’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Stewart Information Services Co. will post 2.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stewart Information Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This is a boost from Stewart Information Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 14th. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 148.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Stewart Information Services currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.50.

About Stewart Information Services

Stewart Information Services Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides title insurance and real estate transaction related services. The company operates through Title and Real Estate Solutions segments. The Title segment is involved in searching, examining, closing, and insuring the condition of the title to real property.