Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in St. Joe Company (The) $JOE

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of St. Joe Company (The) (NYSE:JOE) by 14.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 266,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 44,000 shares during the quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.46% of St. Joe worth $16,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in JOE. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of St. Joe by 138.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 38,860 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,307,000 after acquiring an additional 22,547 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of St. Joe during the 4th quarter worth about $1,653,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in St. Joe by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 122,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,284,000 after purchasing an additional 16,838 shares during the period. Gator Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in St. Joe in the 4th quarter worth about $1,934,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of St. Joe during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,112,000. 86.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

St. Joe Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:JOE opened at $60.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of 31.26 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.60. St. Joe Company has a one year low of $46.37 and a one year high of $73.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 2.36 and a current ratio of 2.36.

St. Joe (NYSE:JOE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. St. Joe had a return on equity of 14.59% and a net margin of 21.61%.The firm had revenue of $99.04 million during the quarter.

St. Joe Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. St. Joe’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut St. Joe from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold”.

Insider Activity at St. Joe

In other St. Joe news, major shareholder Bruce R. Berkowitz sold 189,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.78, for a total transaction of $12,445,576.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,884,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,044,877,410.72. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,000,000 shares of company stock worth $65,585,733 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

St. Joe Company Profile

The St. Joe Company (NYSE: JOE) is a leading real estate development and asset management firm focused on Northwest Florida. Headquartered in Jacksonville, the company owns and manages approximately 171,000 acres of land across Bay, Gulf, Franklin and Walton counties. St. Joe’s core businesses include residential community development, commercial real estate, and hospitality, with an emphasis on master-planned neighborhoods, office and retail campuses, resort hotels and mixed-use town centers.

Founded in 1936 as a paper manufacturing company, St.