Stewart Information Services Corporation $STC Shares Acquired by Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.

Key Points

• Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. has increased its holdings in Stewart Information Services Corporation by 115.1%, owning a total of 10,828 shares valued at approximately $705,000.
• Stewart Information Services reported a 19.9% revenue increase year-over-year and beat earnings estimates with an EPS of $1.34 compared to the expected $1.30.
• The company has increased its quarterly dividend to $0.525, reflecting a positive change from the previous dividend of $0.50, contributing to an annualized yield of 3.0%.

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Stewart Information Services Corporation (NYSE:STC - Free Report) by 115.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,828 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,795 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.'s holdings in Stewart Information Services were worth $705,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Stewart Information Services by 2.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 138,212 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $9,861,000 after buying an additional 3,821 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Stewart Information Services by 1.8% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Stewart Information Services during the first quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Stewart Information Services by 2,735.8% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,503 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 1,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Stewart Information Services by 18.6% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 990,168 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $70,648,000 after buying an additional 155,210 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.90% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO David C. Hisey sold 2,224 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 58,359 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,757,736.01. This represents a 3.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brad Rable sold 5,694 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 23,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,559,319.04. This trade represents a 19.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on STC. Wall Street Zen upgraded Stewart Information Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Stewart Information Services from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.50.

Stewart Information Services Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE:STC opened at $70.98 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a PE ratio of 22.82 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $72.12 and a 200-day moving average of $66.74. Stewart Information Services Corporation has a 52 week low of $56.39 and a 52 week high of $78.44. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $721.50 million during 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 revenue was up 19.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. Analysts predict 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 was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.525 dividend. This is a positive change from Stewart Information Services's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Stewart Information Services's dividend payout ratio is currently 67.52%.

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.

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