Bessemer Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Stellarone Corp $STEL

Bessemer Group Inc. decreased its position in Stellarone Corp (NYSE:STEL) by 50.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 50,100 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Stellarone worth $1,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in STEL. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Stellarone during the first quarter worth about $1,677,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Stellarone in the first quarter worth $743,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 worth $101,354,000 after buying an additional 18,749 shares during the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc bought a new position in Stellarone during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,194,000. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new stake in Stellarone during the 1st quarter valued at $5,851,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.15% of the company’s stock.

Stellarone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:STEL opened at $39.32 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 19.18 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $38.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.04. Stellarone Corp has a twelve month low of $27.88 and a twelve month high of $40.21.

Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $111.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $108.41 million. Stellarone had a net margin of 17.56% and a return on equity of 6.54%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Stellarone Corp will post 2.1 EPS for the current year.

Stellarone Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Stellarone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings upgraded 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.