K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Buys 3,900 Shares of Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc raised its stake in shares of Stantec Inc. (NYSE:STN) (TSE:STN) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 58,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares during the period. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in Stantec were worth $4,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Affirmative Financial Network raised its holdings in shares of Stantec by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 3,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in shares of Stantec in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Canoe Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Stantec by 0.4% in the third quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 118,579 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,694,000 after buying an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Stantec in the third quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Stantec by 17.3% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 5,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after buying an additional 863 shares during the last quarter. 63.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Stantec Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:STN traded up $0.33 on Friday, hitting $81.83. 133,838 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 111,263. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15 and a beta of 1.04. Stantec Inc. has a 52 week low of $56.49 and a 52 week high of $87.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 1.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $82.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.86.

Stantec (NYSE:STN) (TSE:STN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The business services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $912.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $891.12 million. Stantec had a return on equity of 16.50% and a net margin of 5.11%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Stantec Inc. will post 3.13 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.1548 per share. This is a boost from Stantec’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Stantec’s payout ratio is currently 26.36%.

Stantec 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.