Millennium Management LLC Purchases 47,384 Shares of Stewart Information Services Corporation $STC

Key Points

• Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Stewart Information Services Corporation by 5.0%, owning approximately 996,558 shares worth $71.10 million as of the end of the first quarter.
• Stewart Information Services reported $1.34 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a 19.9% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.525 on September 30th, marking an increase from the previous $0.50 dividend, with a current yield of 2.9%.

Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Stewart Information Services Corporation (NYSE:STC - Free Report) by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 996,558 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 47,384 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned approximately 3.58% of Stewart Information Services worth $71,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Stewart Information Services by 1.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 30,160 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Stewart Information Services by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 990,168 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $70,648,000 after purchasing an additional 155,210 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in shares of Stewart Information Services by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 449,672 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $32,084,000 after purchasing an additional 24,840 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Stewart Information Services by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 332,891 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $23,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Stewart Information Services by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 316,444 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $21,357,000 after purchasing an additional 12,455 shares during the last quarter. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on STC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Stewart Information Services from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Stewart Information Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Stewart Information Services currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brad Rable sold 5,694 shares of Stewart Information Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.32, for a total value of $371,932.08. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 23,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,559,319.04. This trade represents a 19.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO David C. Hisey sold 2,224 shares of Stewart Information Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.39, for a total value of $143,203.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 58,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,757,736.01. This represents a 3.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Stewart Information Services Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of STC stock traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $74.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 32,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 183,094. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.91 and a beta of 0.94. Stewart Information Services Corporation has a one year low of $56.39 and a one year high of $78.44. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $67.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $721.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $671.90 million. Stewart Information Services had a return on equity of 7.71% and a net margin of 3.29%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Stewart Information Services Corporation will post 6.29 EPS for the current year.

Stewart Information Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from Stewart Information Services's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Stewart Information Services's dividend payout ratio is 64.31%.

Stewart Information Services 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.