Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Shares of Stellarone Corp (NYSE:STEL) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $41.00 and last traded at $38.0650, with a volume of 646 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $37.95.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Stellarone Stock Up 0.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a PE ratio of 19.28 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.62.

Stellarone (NYSE:STEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. Stellarone had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 17.25%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Stellarone Corp will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

Stellarone Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. Stellarone’s dividend payout ratio is 30.30%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stellarone

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in STEL. North Reef Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Stellarone by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. North Reef Capital Management LP now owns 2,875,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,960,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045,308 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Stellarone by 34.6% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,237,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,556,000 after purchasing an additional 318,011 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Stellarone by 23,465.2% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 312,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,667,000 after purchasing an additional 311,148 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Stellarone by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 429,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,277,000 after purchasing an additional 136,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citadel Advisors LLC increased its position in Stellarone by 288.7% during the 3rd quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 181,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,500,000 after buying an additional 134,637 shares in the last quarter. 54.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.