Stevanato Group (NYSE:STVN) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Stevanato Group S.p.A. (NYSE:STVN)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as €25.75 ($28.93) and last traded at €25.40 ($28.54), with a volume of 28624 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at €24.78 ($27.84).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stephens upgraded Stevanato Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Stevanato Group in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Stevanato Group from $24.00 to $23.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of €25.70 ($28.88).

Stevanato Group Trading Down 1.7%

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.37 billion, a PE ratio of 51.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of €21.50 and a 200-day moving average price of €21.23.

Stevanato Group (NYSE:STVN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported €0.20 ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of €0.20 ($0.22). The firm had revenue of €352.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of €346.26 million. Stevanato Group had a net margin of 10.47% and a return on equity of 9.86%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Stevanato Group S.p.A. will post 0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stevanato Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.0613 per share. This is an increase from Stevanato Group’s previous annual dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.3%. Stevanato Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.76%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stevanato Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STVN. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Stevanato Group by 114.6% in the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 3,288,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,756,100 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. purchased a new position in Stevanato Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $19,072,000. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in Stevanato Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,239,000. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC raised its holdings in Stevanato Group by 1,012.0% during the 4th quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,003,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,860,000 after acquiring an additional 913,019 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stevanato Group during the first quarter worth $15,741,000.

Stevanato Group Company Profile

Stevanato Group S.p.A. engages in the design, production, and distribution of products and processes to provide integrated solutions for bio-pharma and healthcare industries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, South America, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Biopharmaceutical and Diagnostic Solutions; and Engineering.