Short Interest in Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) Increases By 50.9%

Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 965,400 shares, an increase of 50.9% from the February 28th total of 639,900 shares. Approximately 3.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 198,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 8,597 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 0.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,488,342 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $185,979,000 after buying an additional 8,853 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Stewart Information Services by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 134,391 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,070,000 after purchasing an additional 3,938 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $4,938,000 after buying an additional 3,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Stewart Information Services during the fourth quarter worth approximately $749,000. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

STC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Stewart Information Services from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Stewart Information Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th.

Stewart Information Services Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE STC traded down $0.35 on Monday, reaching $71.32. 166,205 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 172,837. Stewart Information Services has a fifty-two week low of $58.23 and a fifty-two week high of $78.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.43 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $68.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The insurance provider reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.01. Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 2.94% and a return on equity of 6.81%. Analysts forecast that Stewart Information Services will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Stewart Information Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.92%.

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.