Stellarone Corp (NYSE:STEL) Plans $0.15 Quarterly Dividend

Stellarone Corp (NYSE:STEL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, June 26th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th.

Stellarone has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Stellarone has a payout ratio of 30.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Stellarone to earn $2.35 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.5%.

Stellarone Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE STEL opened at $37.41 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.69. Stellarone has a fifty-two week low of $26.08 and a fifty-two week high of $40.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.08. Stellarone had a net margin of 17.56% and a return on equity of 6.54%. The business had revenue of $111.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $108.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. Stellarone’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Stellarone will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stellarone

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. North Reef Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Stellarone by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 2,875,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,960,000 after buying an additional 1,045,308 shares in the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Stellarone in the 1st quarter valued at $19,477,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Stellarone by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,237,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,556,000 after buying an additional 318,011 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Stellarone by 23,465.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 312,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,667,000 after buying an additional 311,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Stellarone by 126.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 325,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,924,000 after buying an additional 182,184 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.15% of the company’s stock.

About Stellarone

StellarOne Corporation is a bank holding company of StellarOne Bank (the Bank). The Bank is an independent commercial bank holding company. It offers services provided by full-service banks, including individual and commercial demand and time deposit accounts, commercial and consumer loans, residential mortgages, credit card services and deposit services. The Bank, through its commercial banking segment, offers Internet banking access for banking services, mobile banking and online bill payment for both consumers and commercial customers.