Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Stake in Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC - Free Report) by 14.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 136,935 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 17,451 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.50% of Stewart Information Services worth $8,045,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 5.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 13,226 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $802,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 55.1% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 14,416 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $874,000 after acquiring an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 2.0% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 76,531 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $4,639,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 14.1% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 23,183 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,405,000 after acquiring an additional 2,859 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Stewart Information Services by 1.7% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,941,377 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $238,885,000 after acquiring an additional 64,081 shares during the period. 96.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Stewart Information Services Price Performance

Shares of Stewart Information Services stock traded up $2.27 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $65.06. The company had a trading volume of 701,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 287,206. The company has a current ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.61 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.42. Stewart Information Services Co. has a 1-year low of $36.81 and a 1-year high of $65.35.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Stewart Information Services's revenue for the quarter was down 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Stewart Information Services Co. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Stewart Information Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. Stewart Information Services's payout ratio is presently 171.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stewart Information Services

In other news, Director Matthew Morris sold 12,000 shares of Stewart Information Services stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.11, for a total transaction of $757,320.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 76,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,851,076.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

STC has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Stewart Information Services from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded shares of Stewart Information Services from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Stewart Information Services currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $68.33.

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.