Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN) Shares Purchased by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN) (TSE:STN) by 802.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 975 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Stantec were worth $81,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Stantec by 3.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,344,568 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $360,773,000 after acquiring an additional 133,687 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Stantec by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,176,820 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $265,177,000 after purchasing an additional 415,993 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Stantec by 175.7% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,266,214 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $105,850,000 after purchasing an additional 806,869 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Stantec by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 940,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $77,860,000 after purchasing an additional 93,823 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Stantec by 86.0% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 913,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $75,897,000 after buying an additional 422,538 shares in the last quarter. 63.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on STN shares. Scotiabank began coverage on Stantec in a report on Friday, October 25th. They set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James cut shares of Stantec from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th.

Stantec Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Stantec stock opened at $82.08 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $81.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.25. Stantec Inc. has a 12-month low of $60.49 and a 12-month high of $88.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $9.36 billion, a PE ratio of 35.84 and a beta of 1.02.

Stantec (NYSE:STN) (TSE:STN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.01. Stantec had a return on equity of 16.22% and a net margin of 4.96%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Stantec Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stantec Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.152 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $0.61 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Stantec’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.07%.

About Stantec

Stantec Inc provides professional services in the areas of infrastructure and facilities to the public and private sectors in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It offers evaluation, planning, and designing infrastructure solutions; solutions for sustainable water resources, planning, management, and infrastructure; environmental services; integrated architecture, engineering, interior design, and planning solutions for buildings; and energy and resources solutions.