ABC Arbitrage SA Purchases Shares of 159,824 Stellarone Corp $STEL

ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new position in shares of Stellarone Corp (NYSE:STEL) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 159,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,851,000. Stellarone makes up approximately 0.8% of ABC Arbitrage SA’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. ABC Arbitrage SA owned about 0.31% of Stellarone as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Stellarone by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $283,000 after buying an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio boosted its position in shares of Stellarone by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 22,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Stellarone by 0.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 847 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Stellarone by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 24,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $768,000 after acquiring an additional 980 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in Stellarone by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 11,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.15% of the company’s stock.

Stellarone Price Performance

Shares of STEL opened at $39.32 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $38.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18 and a beta of 0.70. Stellarone Corp has a 52 week low of $27.88 and a 52 week 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.

Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $111.04 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $108.41 million. Stellarone had a return on equity of 6.54% and a net margin of 17.56%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. On average, 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Stellarone Company 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.