Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Invests $215,000 in Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN) (TSE:STN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 2,686 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in STN. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Stantec during the 3rd quarter worth $15,499,000. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of Stantec by 5.9% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,552,514 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,078,000 after purchasing an additional 142,842 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Stantec by 52.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 372,570 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $24,379,000 after buying an additional 127,900 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Stantec by 207.8% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 187,043 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,134,000 after purchasing an additional 126,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in Stantec by 95.8% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 245,873 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,016,000 after acquiring an additional 120,273 shares in the last quarter. 63.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Atb Cap Markets downgraded shares of Stantec from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.00.

Stantec Price Performance

NYSE:STN opened at $84.43 on Wednesday. Stantec Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.49 and a 12-month high of $87.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.38 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $82.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Stantec (NYSE:STN) (TSE:STN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The business services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.03). Stantec had a return on equity of 16.50% and a net margin of 5.11%. The business had revenue of $912.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $891.12 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Stantec Inc. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Stantec Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.1548 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Stantec’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Stantec’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.36%.

Stantec Company Profile

Stantec Inc provides professional services in the areas of infrastructure and facilities to the public and private sectors in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It offers evaluation, planning, and designing infrastructure solutions; solutions for sustainable water resources, planning, management, and infrastructure; environmental services; integrated architecture, engineering, interior design, and planning solutions for buildings; and energy and resources solutions.