Stewart Information Services Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides title insurance and real estate transaction related services. The company operates in two segments, Title, and Ancillary Services and Corporate. The Title segment is involved in searching, examining, closing, and insuring the condition of the title to real property. This segment also offers home and personal insurance services; services for tax-deferred exchanges; and digital customer engagement platform services. The Ancillary Services and Corporate segment provides appraisal management, online notarization and closing, credit and real estate information, and search and valuation services to the mortgage industry. The company offers its products and services through its directly owned policy-issuing offices, network of independent agencies, and other businesses within the company. It serves homebuyers and sellers, residential and commercial real estate professionals, title agencies, real estate attorneys and investors, and home builders, as well as mortgage lenders, servicers, brokers, and investors. The company operates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Stewart Information Services Corporation was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Stewart Information Services Stock Performance
Shares of Stewart Information Services stock opened at $52.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 1.14. Stewart Information Services has a 12 month low of $45.63 and a 12 month high of $81.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.02.
Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC - Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 27th. The insurance provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.42. Stewart Information Services had a return on equity of 22.56% and a net margin of 8.40%. The firm had revenue of $844.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $757.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.17 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Stewart Information Services will post 8.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Stewart Information Services Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 15th were issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 14th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. Stewart Information Services's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.95%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. BTIG Research reduced their price target on Stewart Information Services from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Stewart Information Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 5th.
Insider Transactions at Stewart Information Services
In other Stewart Information Services news, CEO Frederick H. Eppinger purchased 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $48.91 per share, for a total transaction of $73,365.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 94,762 shares in the company, valued at $4,634,809.42. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Steven Mark Lessack purchased 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $55.20 per share, for a total transaction of $165,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $512,863.20. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Frederick H. Eppinger bought 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $48.91 per share, for a total transaction of $73,365.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 94,762 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,634,809.42. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.