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

Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Stellarone Corp (NYSE:STEL) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 45,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,677,000. Stellarone comprises approximately 0.8% of Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. owned about 0.09% of Stellarone as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Stellarone in the first quarter worth about $743,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Stellarone by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 203,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,302,000 after buying an additional 847 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Stellarone by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 216,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,691,000 after acquiring an additional 18,643 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Stellarone during the 4th quarter worth $738,000. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Stellarone in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.15% of the company’s stock.

Stellarone Price Performance

Stellarone stock opened at $39.58 on Friday. Stellarone Corp has a 1 year low of $27.86 and a 1 year high of $40.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $37.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.04. The company has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Stellarone Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised 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 given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stellarone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.00.

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.