Empowered Funds LLC Has $6.38 Million Stock Position in Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC)

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 85,302 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,288 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Stewart Information Services were worth $6,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Stewart Information Services by 76.9% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,290 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $865,000 after buying an additional 5,777 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Stewart Information Services during the 1st quarter worth approximately $111,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 14.0% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 8,843 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Stewart Information Services by 7.3% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,410 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $352,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 0.8% in 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 period. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

STC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. 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 report on Monday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Stewart Information Services from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research report on Thursday, July 25th.

Stewart Information Services Trading Up 1.2 %

STC opened at $73.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.62 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Stewart Information Services Co. has a 12 month low of $45.12 and a 12 month high of $76.83. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.18.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $667.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $638.40 million. Stewart Information Services had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 2.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Stewart Information Services Co. will post 3.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stewart Information Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Stewart Information Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.34%.

Stewart Information Services Company 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.