Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) Director Sells $956,073.88 in Stock

Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) Director Matthew Morris sold 12,899 shares of Stewart Information Services stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.12, for a total value of $956,073.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 65,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,842,259.60. This trade represents a 16.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Stewart Information Services Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE STC traded up $1.68 on Monday, reaching $76.77. 100,868 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 181,705. Stewart Information Services Co. has a 12 month low of $49.40 and a 12 month high of $76.88. The company has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $71.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 1.94.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $667.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $638.40 million. Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 5.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Stewart Information Services Co. will post 3.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stewart Information Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. This is a positive change from Stewart Information Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th.

Institutional Trading of Stewart Information Services

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,922,385 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $125,070,000 after purchasing an additional 15,910 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 149.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 342,090 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,568,000 after purchasing an additional 204,688 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stewart Information Services in the 2nd quarter worth $503,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Stewart Information Services by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 83,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,211,000 after buying an additional 1,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Stewart Information Services by 906.9% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 656,143 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,733,000 after buying an additional 590,977 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.90% of the company’s stock.

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.