Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN) (TSE:STN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company.

STN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Stantec from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 16th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Stantec in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Stantec from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Stantec from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stantec

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of STN. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Stantec by 14.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 215,049 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,968,000 after buying an additional 27,060 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Stantec by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,166 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. acquired a new position in Stantec during the 2nd quarter worth $609,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Stantec by 175.7% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,266,214 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $105,850,000 after purchasing an additional 806,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Stantec during the 2nd quarter worth $2,164,000. 63.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Stantec Stock Performance

NYSE STN opened at $79.19 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a PE ratio of 36.00 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.01. Stantec has a 1-year low of $74.98 and a 1-year high of $88.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

Stantec (NYSE:STN) (TSE:STN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The business services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Stantec had a return on equity of 16.57% and a net margin of 4.78%. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Stantec will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stantec Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Stantec’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Stantec’s 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.