Azarias Capital Management L.P. Sells 12,194 Shares of Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC)

Azarias Capital Management L.P. reduced its position in Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) by 15.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 67,073 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 12,194 shares during the quarter. Stewart Information Services comprises about 2.0% of Azarias Capital Management L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Azarias Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Stewart Information Services were worth $4,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Stewart Information Services by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 630,751 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $47,151,000 after acquiring an additional 8,597 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 149.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 342,090 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $25,568,000 after purchasing an additional 204,688 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,488,342 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $185,979,000 after purchasing an additional 8,853 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Stewart Information Services by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 66,071 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,938,000 after purchasing an additional 3,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 205.6% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,492 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 9,077 shares in the last quarter. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Stewart Information Services

In other news, Director Matthew Morris sold 12,899 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.12, for a total value of $956,073.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 65,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,842,259.60. This represents a 16.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on STC. StockNews.com lowered Stewart Information Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Stewart Information Services Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of STC stock opened at $67.23 on Thursday. Stewart Information Services Co. has a twelve month low of $58.23 and a twelve month high of $78.44. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.86 and a beta of 1.23.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.01. Stewart Information Services had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 2.94%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Stewart Information Services Co. will post 6.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stewart Information Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.92%.

Stewart Information Services 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.