Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC) Short Interest Update

Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,800 shares, a growth of 34.9% from the October 15th total of 4,300 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Investors Title

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Investors Title by 12.3% in the first quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 719 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Investors Title by 28.6% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 450 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Investors Title by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 22,700 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,561,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Investors Title by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,518 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $814,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Investors Title by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,011 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ITIC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TheStreet raised shares of Investors Title from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. StockNews.com lowered Investors Title from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday.

Investors Title Price Performance

Investors Title stock traded up $3.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $152.24. 6,091 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,687. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $145.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.03. The company has a market capitalization of $287.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 0.84. Investors Title has a fifty-two week low of $127.71 and a fifty-two week high of $167.84.

Investors Title Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a None dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $4.46 per share. This represents a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 30th. This is an increase from Investors Title’s previous None dividend of $3.46. Investors Title’s payout ratio is presently 14.91%.

About Investors Title

Investors Title Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the issuance of residential and commercial title insurance for residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial properties. The company underwrites land title insurance for owners and mortgagees as a primary insurer; and assumes the reinsurance of title insurance risks from other title insurance companies.