Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the three ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.33.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on STC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Stewart Information Services from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Stephens boosted their target price on Stewart Information Services from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stewart Information Services news, Director Matthew Morris sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,851,076.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Stewart Information Services

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its position in shares of Stewart Information Services by 74.9% in 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. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted 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 worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 848 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Stewart Information Services during the 2nd quarter worth about $115,000. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Stewart Information Services by 92.8% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Stewart Information Services by 79.6% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,067 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.90% of the company’s stock.

Stewart Information Services Stock Performance

Shares of STC stock opened at $59.99 on Friday. Stewart Information Services has a 1-year low of $36.81 and a 1-year high of $65.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.05 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.61.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.14. Stewart Information Services had a return on equity of 3.85% and a net margin of 1.35%. The business had revenue of $582.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $566.46 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Stewart Information Services’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Stewart Information Services will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stewart Information Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 171.17%.

About Stewart Information Services

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.