Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Stellarone Corp (NYSE:STEL)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $41.00 and last traded at $38.0650, with a volume of 646 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $37.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on STEL. Raymond James Financial cut Stellarone from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Stellarone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings began coverage on Stellarone in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. They set a “buy (b-)” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stellarone has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.00.

Stellarone Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a PE ratio of 19.00 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.18 and a 200-day moving average of $33.72.

Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.51. Stellarone had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 17.25%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Stellarone Corp will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Stellarone Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Stellarone’s payout ratio is presently 30.30%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EJF Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Stellarone by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 17,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $533,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Stellarone by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 49,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,498,000 after buying an additional 10,336 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Stellarone by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 180,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,469,000 after buying an additional 24,043 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stellarone during the 3rd quarter valued at $375,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of Stellarone by 60.1% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.