Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 5,952 Shares of Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its holdings in Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) by 83.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,212 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 5,952 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Stewart Information Services were worth $53,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in Stewart Information Services by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 10,766 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Shay Capital LLC purchased a new position in Stewart Information Services in the 2nd quarter worth $411,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Stewart Information Services by 144.1% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 119,484 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,233,000 after purchasing an additional 70,544 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Stewart Information Services by 17.7% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 13,868 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 2,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank bought a new stake in shares of Stewart Information Services in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,862,000. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

STC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research upgraded Stewart Information Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Stewart Information Services from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.33.

Stewart Information Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:STC opened at $65.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11. The firm has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.62 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.18. Stewart Information Services Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.81 and a fifty-two week high of $65.35.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.14. Stewart Information Services had a return on equity of 3.85% and a net margin of 1.35%. The firm had revenue of $582.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $566.46 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Stewart Information Services Co. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stewart Information Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.17%.

Insider Activity at Stewart Information Services

In other Stewart Information Services news, Director Matthew Morris sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.11, for a total transaction of $757,320.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 76,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,851,076.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.