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

Stewart Information Services Co. (NYSE:STC) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 2nd,RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%.

Stewart Information Services has raised its dividend by an average of 15.5% annually over the last three years. Stewart Information Services has a dividend payout ratio of 35.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Performance

STC traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $76.35. 5,528 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 181,251. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.02 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.94 and a quick ratio of 1.94. Stewart Information Services has a 12 month low of $49.40 and a 12 month high of $76.88.

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 company had revenue of $667.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $638.40 million. Stewart Information Services had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 2.47%. Stewart Information Services’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Stewart Information Services will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Matthew Morris sold 12,899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.12, for a total value of $956,073.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 65,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,842,259.60. This represents a 16.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Stewart Information Services from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th.

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.