Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.21 EPS

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The insurance provider reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.21, Yahoo Finance reports. Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 5.16%. The firm had revenue of $667.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $638.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Stewart Information Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:STC traded down $2.42 on Friday, reaching $69.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 132,472 shares, compared to its average volume of 188,767. Stewart Information Services has a 52-week low of $38.40 and a 52-week high of $76.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.11. The company has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Stewart Information Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Stewart Information Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Stewart Information Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 131.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Stewart Information Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Stewart Information Services from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO David C. Hisey sold 12,649 shares of Stewart Information Services stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.27, for a total transaction of $876,196.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 55,917 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,873,370.59. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.