Stewart Information Services Corporation (NYSE:STC) to Issue Dividend Increase - $0.53 Per Share

Key Points

• Stewart Information Services Corporation will increase its quarterly dividend to $0.53 per share, marking a 5% increase from the previous dividend of $0.50.
• The company's latest earnings report revealed a net revenue increase of 19.9% year-over-year, with earnings per share of $1.34, exceeding analysts' expectations.
• Stewart Information Services has a strong payout ratio of 31.1%, indicating that the dividend is well-covered by its earnings.

Stewart Information Services Corporation (NYSE:STC - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 2nd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.525 per share by the insurance provider on Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. This is a 5.0% increase from Stewart Information Services's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50.

Stewart Information Services has a payout ratio of 31.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Stewart Information Services Price Performance

Shares of Stewart Information Services stock opened at $70.55 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.91. Stewart Information Services has a fifty-two week low of $56.39 and a fifty-two week high of $78.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $66.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.30. The company has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a PE ratio of 22.68 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Insider Transactions at Stewart Information Services

In related news, insider Brad Rable sold 5,694 shares of Stewart Information Services stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.32, for a total transaction 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO David C. Hisey sold 2,224 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.39, for a total transaction of $143,203.36. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 58,359 shares in the company, valued at $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. 2.78% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Stewart Information Services

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of STC. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stewart Information Services during the first quarter worth approximately $12,698,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $70,648,000 after buying an additional 155,210 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Stewart Information Services during the second quarter worth approximately $3,720,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 89.1% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 114,291 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $8,155,000 after buying an additional 53,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in shares of Stewart Information Services by 381.3% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 67,255 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $4,799,000 after buying an additional 53,282 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.90% of the company's stock.

Stewart Information Services Company 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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