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

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN) (TSE:STN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,686 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in Stantec in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Stantec in the third quarter worth approximately $52,000. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in Stantec by 456.3% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 2,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Stantec in the 4th quarter valued at $214,000. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stantec during the 3rd quarter worth $291,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Atb Cap Markets lowered shares of Stantec from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.00.

Stantec Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE STN opened at $84.43 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.63 billion, a PE ratio of 38.38 and a beta of 1.05. Stantec Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.49 and a twelve month high of $87.53. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.04.

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

Stantec Increases Dividend

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