Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN – Get Rating) (TSE:STN) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 501,950 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 41,250 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Stantec were worth $24,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Stantec by 52.5% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 2,879 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Stantec by 13.7% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Stantec by 11.3% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 361,928 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,955,000 after purchasing an additional 36,804 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP purchased a new position in Stantec during the third quarter worth about $216,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Stantec by 1.6% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,751,251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $126,450,000 after purchasing an additional 42,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Atb Cap Markets downgraded shares of Stantec from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Stantec from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Raymond James downgraded shares of Stantec from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 12th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Stantec in a research note on Thursday. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $76.40.

Stantec Price Performance

Stantec stock opened at $58.79 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.80. The company has a market capitalization of $6.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.30 and a beta of 0.90. Stantec Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.32 and a 1 year high of $62.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48.

Stantec (NYSE:STN – Get Rating) (TSE:STN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $832.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $839.12 million. Stantec had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 16.17%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Stantec Inc. will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Stantec Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.144 per share. This represents a $0.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 29th. Stantec’s payout ratio is currently 31.32%.

About Stantec

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Stantec, Inc engages in the provision of knowledge-based solutions through value-added professional consulting services in engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics. It operates through the following geographical segments: Canada, United States, and Global.