Natixis Advisors LLC Increases Position in Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC)

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) by 11.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 14,087 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,498 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Stewart Information Services were worth $875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Truist Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Stewart Information Services in the fourth quarter valued at $247,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 11,270 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $662,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Stewart Information Services by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 951,699 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $55,912,000 after acquiring an additional 8,004 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,922,748 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $112,963,000 after acquiring an additional 59,639 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Stewart Information Services by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 5,383 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. 96.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stewart Information Services Price Performance

STC opened at $70.30 on Thursday. Stewart Information Services Co. has a 52-week low of $38.40 and a 52-week high of $75.51. The company has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.27 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $70.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.02.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.13). Stewart Information Services had a return on equity of 5.16% and a net margin of 1.85%. The company had revenue of $602.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $597.00 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Stewart Information Services Co. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Stewart Information Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This is a positive change from Stewart Information Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 125.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO David C. Hisey sold 12,649 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.27, for a total transaction of $876,196.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 55,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,873,370.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on STC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded Stewart Information Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Stewart Information Services from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research note on Thursday, July 25th.

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.