Banque Pictet & Cie SA Purchases Shares of 8,623 Stewart Information Services Corporation (NYSE:STC)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA bought a new stake in Stewart Information Services Corporation (NYSE:STC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,623 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $615,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,682,009 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $120,600,000 after buying an additional 30,160 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Stewart Information Services during the first quarter valued at approximately $283,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Stewart Information Services during the fourth quarter worth about $385,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Stewart Information Services by 55.4% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 23,233 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,568,000 after buying an additional 8,284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 316,444 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $21,357,000 after buying an additional 12,455 shares during the period. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Stewart Information Services from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Stewart Information Services from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday.

Stewart Information Services Price Performance

Shares of Stewart Information Services stock traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $60.52. The company had a trading volume of 320,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 172,216. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.28 and a beta of 0.99. Stewart Information Services Corporation has a 1-year low of $58.61 and a 1-year high of $78.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.90.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $608.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $595.50 million. Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 2.88% and a return on equity of 6.92%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Stewart Information Services Corporation will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Stewart Information Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Stewart Information Services's dividend payout ratio is presently 76.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director C Allen Bradley, Jr. bought 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $59.63 per share, for a total transaction of $59,630.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,243 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,207,090.09. This represents a 5.20% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.