Bessemer Group Inc. Trims Holdings in Stellarone Corp $STEL

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

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in STEL. Osaic Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Stellarone in the second quarter worth approximately $62,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Stellarone during the 3rd quarter valued at $83,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stellarone during the 3rd quarter valued at $112,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stellarone during the 1st quarter valued at $202,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC bought a new position in Stellarone in the 2nd quarter worth $202,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.15% of the company’s stock.

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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.00.

Stellarone Price Performance

Shares of STEL opened at $39.32 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $38.37 and its 200 day moving average is $37.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Stellarone Corp has a 12-month low of $27.88 and a 12-month high of $40.21. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 19.18 and a beta of 0.70.

Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company posted $0.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Stellarone Corp will post 2.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stellarone Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Stellarone’s payout ratio is 29.27%.

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.