Cooke & Bieler LP Sells 7,565 Shares of Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC)

Cooke & Bieler LP reduced its stake in shares of Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 633,684 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 7,565 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP owned about 2.32% of Stewart Information Services worth $37,229,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in STC. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 10,766 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 136,935 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $8,045,000 after purchasing an additional 17,451 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 705,777 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $41,464,000 after purchasing an additional 31,211 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Stewart Information Services in the third quarter worth $227,000. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 7.4% in the third quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 226,239 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,909,000 after purchasing an additional 15,662 shares during the period. 96.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Stewart Information Services Price Performance

STC traded up $1.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.52. The stock had a trading volume of 215,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 208,160. The stock has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a PE ratio of 54.52 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11. Stewart Information Services Co. has a one year low of $36.81 and a one year high of $65.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $61.76 and a 200-day moving average of $55.07.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.14. Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 1.35% and a return on equity of 3.85%. The business had revenue of $582.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $566.46 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Stewart Information Services Co. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stewart Information Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. Stewart Information Services’s payout ratio is 171.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

STC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Stewart Information Services from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Stewart Information Services from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stewart Information Services

In other Stewart Information Services news, Director Matthew Morris sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.11, for a total transaction of $757,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 76,867 shares in the company, valued at $4,851,076.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.