Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The insurance provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.01, Zacks reports. Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 5.77%.

Stewart Information Services Stock Performance

Shares of STC stock opened at $65.80 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04 and a beta of 1.23. 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 has a 1-year low of $56.16 and a 1-year high of $78.44.

Stewart Information Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on STC. StockNews.com downgraded Stewart Information Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Stewart Information Services from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Matthew Morris sold 12,899 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.12, for a total transaction of $956,073.88. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,330 shares in the company, valued at $4,842,259.60. The trade was a 16.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.99% 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.