Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys Shares of 41,740 Stellarone Corp $STEL

Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Stellarone Corp (NYSE:STEL) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 41,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,530,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.08% of Stellarone as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in STEL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Stellarone by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,275,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $101,354,000 after buying an additional 18,749 shares in the last quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Stellarone by 57.1% during the fourth quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 2,875,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,960,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045,308 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Stellarone by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,345,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,556,000 after acquiring an additional 46,664 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Stellarone by 34.6% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,237,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,556,000 after acquiring an additional 318,011 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Stellarone by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 429,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,277,000 after acquiring an additional 136,945 shares during the period. 54.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Stellarone Price Performance

Stellarone stock opened at $39.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 19.18 and a beta of 0.70. Stellarone Corp has a twelve month low of $27.88 and a twelve month high of $40.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $38.53 and a 200-day moving average of $37.21.

Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $111.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $108.41 million. Stellarone had a net margin of 17.56% and a return on equity of 6.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Stellarone Corp will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stellarone Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Stellarone’s dividend payout ratio is 29.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings upgraded Stellarone from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

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.