Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Acquires New Shares in Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN) (TSE:STN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in STN. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Stantec during the 3rd quarter worth about $15,499,000. Fiera Capital Corp increased its holdings in Stantec by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,552,514 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,078,000 after purchasing an additional 142,842 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Stantec by 52.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 372,570 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $24,379,000 after purchasing an additional 127,900 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Stantec by 207.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 187,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,134,000 after purchasing an additional 126,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in Stantec by 95.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 245,873 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,016,000 after purchasing an additional 120,273 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Atb Cap Markets cut Stantec from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Stantec presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

Stantec Price Performance

Shares of NYSE STN opened at $80.97 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.80 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $82.84 and a 200-day moving average of $76.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.41. Stantec Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $56.49 and a fifty-two week high of $87.53.

Stantec (NYSE:STN) (TSE:STN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The business services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $912.51 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $891.12 million. Stantec had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 16.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Stantec Inc. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stantec Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.1548 dividend. This is an increase from Stantec’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Stantec’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.36%.

Stantec Profile

Stantec Inc provides professional services in the areas of infrastructure and facilities to the public and private sectors in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It offers evaluation, planning, and designing infrastructure solutions; solutions for sustainable water resources, planning, management, and infrastructure; environmental services; integrated architecture, engineering, interior design, and planning solutions for buildings; and energy and resources solutions.