Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. Takes $1.68 Million Position in Stellarone Corp $STEL

Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Stellarone Corp (NYSE:STEL) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 45,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,677,000. Stellarone makes up approximately 0.8% of Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Stellarone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $743,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Stellarone by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 203,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,302,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Stellarone by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 216,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,691,000 after purchasing an additional 18,643 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Stellarone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $738,000. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in Stellarone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings upgraded Stellarone from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Stellarone Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of STEL stock opened at $39.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.04. Stellarone Corp has a one year low of $27.86 and a one year high of $40.21. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31 and a beta of 0.70.

Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. Stellarone had a net margin of 17.56% and a return on equity of 6.54%. The business had revenue of $111.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $108.41 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Stellarone Corp will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Stellarone Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Stellarone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.27%.

Stellarone Profile

StellarOne Corporation is a bank holding company of StellarOne Bank (the Bank). The Bank is an independent commercial bank holding company. It offers services provided by full-service banks, including individual and commercial demand and time deposit accounts, commercial and consumer loans, residential mortgages, credit card services and deposit services. The Bank, through its commercial banking segment, offers Internet banking access for banking services, mobile banking and online bill payment for both consumers and commercial customers.