Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Reduces Position in Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Stewart Information Services were worth $1,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Stewart Information Services during the 1st quarter worth about $576,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Stewart Information Services by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,922,385 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $125,070,000 after purchasing an additional 15,910 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Stewart Information Services during the second quarter worth approximately $503,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 1.5% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 83,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,211,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Stewart Information Services by 906.9% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 656,143 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $40,733,000 after purchasing an additional 590,977 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.90% of the company’s stock.

Stewart Information Services Stock Performance

Shares of Stewart Information Services stock opened at $67.35 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.77 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.97. Stewart Information Services Co. has a 12 month low of $44.05 and a 12 month high of $76.83.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.21. Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 5.77%. The business had revenue of $667.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $638.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Stewart Information Services Co. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Stewart Information Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Stewart Information Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on STC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $79.00 target price on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research report on Thursday, July 25th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO David C. Hisey sold 12,649 shares of Stewart Information Services stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.27, for a total value of $876,196.23. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 55,917 shares in the company, valued at $3,873,370.59. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

About Stewart Information Services

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.