St. Joe (NYSE:JOE) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

St. Joe Company (The) (NYSE:JOE)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $61.62 and last traded at $61.1650, with a volume of 147995 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $57.96.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on JOE. Wall Street Zen raised shares of St. Joe from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of St. Joe in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, St. Joe currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

St. Joe Trading Up 5.3%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.93. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 33.92 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

St. Joe (NYSE:JOE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter. St. Joe had a net margin of 21.40% and a return on equity of 14.10%. The business had revenue of $161.08 million for the quarter.

St. Joe Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be given a $0.16 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. This is a positive change from St. Joe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. St. Joe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.56%.

Insider Activity at St. Joe

In related news, major shareholder Bruce R. Berkowitz sold 104,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total transaction of $5,317,428.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,324,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $833,861,793.92. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of St. Joe

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new position in shares of St. Joe during the third quarter worth $31,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in St. Joe by 155.7% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in St. Joe by 2,265.5% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in St. Joe in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in St. Joe by 31.8% in the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.67% of the company’s stock.

St. Joe Company Profile

The St. Joe Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate development, asset management, and operating company in Northwest Florida. It operates through three segments: Residential, Hospitality, and Commercial. The Residential segment engages in the development of communities into homesites for sale to homebuilders and on a limited basis to retail customers.