Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) Stock Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of Stellarone Corp (NYSE:STEL) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $35.25 and traded as high as $37.56. Stellarone shares last traded at $37.3940, with a volume of 486,975 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised shares of 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Stellarone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

Stellarone Trading Up 1.1%

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $37.18 and its 200-day moving average is $35.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.24 and a beta of 0.70.

Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $108.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. Stellarone’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Stellarone Corp will post 2.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stellarone Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Stellarone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.27%.

Institutional Trading of Stellarone

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Stellarone by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,275,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $101,354,000 after purchasing an additional 18,749 shares during the period. North Reef Capital Management LP grew its position in Stellarone by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 2,875,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,960,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045,308 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Stellarone by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,499,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,494,000 after purchasing an additional 154,135 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Stellarone by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,237,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,556,000 after purchasing an additional 318,011 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in Stellarone by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,154,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,041,000 after purchasing an additional 86,363 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.15% of the company’s stock.

About Stellarone

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.