Stewart Information Services Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.50 (NYSE:STC)

Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 2nd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the insurance provider on Monday, December 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th.

Stewart Information Services has increased its dividend by an average of 15.5% per year over the last three years. Stewart Information Services has a payout ratio of 35.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Stewart Information Services to earn $6.29 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.8%.

Stewart Information Services Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of STC opened at $74.60 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $71.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 1.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.19 and a beta of 1.21. Stewart Information Services has a one year low of $55.30 and a one year high of $78.44.

Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $667.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $638.40 million. Stewart Information Services had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 5.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.86 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Stewart Information Services will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stewart Information Services news, Director Matthew Morris sold 12,899 shares of Stewart Information Services stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.12, for a total value of $956,073.88. Following the sale, the director now owns 65,330 shares in the company, valued at $4,842,259.60. The trade was a 16.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on STC shares. StockNews.com upgraded Stewart Information Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Stewart Information Services from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

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.