Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC Buys New Shares in Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC)

Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,651 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Stewart Information Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $385,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 134,391 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $9,070,000 after purchasing an additional 3,938 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Stewart Information Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $749,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 205.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,492 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 9,077 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 337.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 45,500 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,400,000 after purchasing an additional 35,088 shares during the period. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on STC. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Stewart Information Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Stewart Information Services Price Performance

STC opened at $66.26 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.48 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $67.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Stewart Information Services Co. has a 52-week low of $58.61 and a 52-week high of $78.44.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $608.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $595.50 million. Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 6.81%. Stewart Information Services’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Stewart Information Services Co. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Stewart Information Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.92%.

Stewart Information Services Profile

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.