Matthew Morris Sells 12,899 Shares of Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) Stock

Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) Director Matthew Morris sold 12,899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.12, for a total transaction of $956,073.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 65,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,842,259.60. The trade was a 16.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Stewart Information Services Stock Performance

NYSE:STC opened at $75.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.61 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.94. Stewart Information Services Co. has a 1-year low of $49.40 and a 1-year high of $76.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $71.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.17.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $667.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $638.40 million. Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 5.77%. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Stewart Information Services Co. will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Stewart Information Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.34%.

Institutional Trading of Stewart Information Services

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Stewart Information Services by 57.7% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stewart Information Services during the 3rd quarter worth $61,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stewart Information Services in the 2nd quarter valued at about $65,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stewart Information Services in the second quarter valued at about $74,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Stewart Information Services during the third quarter worth about $205,000. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Stewart Information Services from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th.

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.