Zacks Research Upgrades Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) to Hold

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Benchmark started coverage on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $87.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Stewart Information Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Stewart Information Services from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $77.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Stewart Information Services from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, September 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

Stewart Information Services Stock Performance

Shares of STC stock opened at $62.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $67.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a current ratio of 1.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.63 and a beta of 0.97. Stewart Information Services has a 1 year low of $57.10 and a 1 year high of $78.61.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.24). Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 4.12% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The firm had revenue of $895.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.07 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Stewart Information Services will post 5.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stewart Information Services

In other news, insider Brian Glaze sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.16, for a total value of $103,740.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 11,784 shares in the company, valued at $814,981.44. This represents a 11.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Stewart Information Services

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in STC. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Stewart Information Services during the 2nd quarter worth about $347,274,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 842,077 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $59,164,000 after purchasing an additional 77,618 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Stewart Information Services in the 2nd quarter valued at about $17,759,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Stewart Information Services by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 215,213 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,253,000 after purchasing an additional 2,631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Stewart Information Services by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 146,870 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,044,000 after purchasing an additional 13,317 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.90% of the company’s stock.

About Stewart Information Services

Stewart Information Services Corporation is a title insurance and real estate services company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Through its Stewart Title operations, the company provides title insurance, escrow and closing services, and related services that help protect property buyers, lenders and other participants in real estate transactions from title defects and ownership-related risks.

The company also offers valuation and appraisal services, mortgage services, and technology-enabled solutions for the real estate and mortgage industries.