Starboard Value Takes 9.9% Stake in Stewart Information Services Corp (STC)

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Jeffrey Smith‘s Starboard Value LP recently filed a Form 13D with the Securities and Exchange Commission, in which it reported the acquisition of 2.32 million common shares of Stewart Information Services Corp (NYSE:STC), which amass 9.9% of the company’s outstanding stock. The acquisition represents a new addition to Starboard Value’s portfolio. The famed activist hedge fund revealed in the filing that it currently has no plans related to activist measures regarding the company and that it purchased the shares on the belief that they are undervalued.

Stewart Information Services Corporation is a global real estate services company that works in three sectors: mortgage services, corporate, and title insurance and related services. Since the beginning of the year, the company’s shares have gained 24.3%. For the second quarter of 2016, the company reported earnings per share of $0.49 and revenue of 489.4 million, which represented declines from the earnings per share of $0.72 and revenue of $531.9 million that the company pulled in during the same quarter a year earlier. On July 22, FBR & Co boosted its price target on the stock to $46 from $37 and has a ‘Market Perform’ rating on it.

Jeff Smith

At the end of the second quarter, some of the investors in Insider Monkey’s database that were bullish on Stewart Information Services (NYSE:STC) included Phillip Goldstein, Andrew Dakos and Steven Samuels’ Bulldog Investors, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies, and Sahm Adrangi’s Kerrisdale Capital. Some of the investment firms that added Stewart Information Services to their portfolios during the second quarter were Manoneet Singh’s Kavi Asset Management, which had a $9.45 million position in the company on June 30, and Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors LLC, which initiated a position worth $1.83 million.

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You can access the original SEC filing by clicking here.

Ownership Summary Table

Name Sole Voting Power Shared Voting Power Sole Dispositive Power Shared Dispositive Power Aggregate Amount Owned Power Percent of Class
STARBOARD VALUE 2,315,000 0 2,315,000 0 2,315,000 9.9%
STARBOARD VALUE AND OPPORTUNITY MASTER FUND LTD 1,726,345 0 1,726,345 0 1,726,345 7.4%
STARBOARD VALUE AND OPPORTUNITY S 216,790 0 216,790 0 216,790 Less than 1%
STARBOARD VALUE AND OPPORTUNITY C 119,970 0 119,970 0 119,970 Less than 1%
STARBOARD VALUE R 119,970 0 119,970 0 119,970 Less than 1%
STARBOARD VALUE R GP 119,970 0 119,970 0 119,970 Less than 1%
STARBOARD VALUE GP 2,315,000 0 2,315,000 0 2,315,000 9.9%
STARBOARD VALUE PRINCIPAL CO 2,315,000 0 2,315,000 0 2,315,000 9.9%
STARBOARD PRINCIPAL CO GP 2,315,000 0 2,315,000 0 2,315,000 9.9%
JEFFREY C. SMITH 0 2,315,000 0 2,315,000 2,315,000 9.9%
MARK R. MITCHELL 0 2,315,000 0 2,315,000 2,315,000 9.9%
PETER A. FELD 0 2,315,000 0 2,315,000 2,315,000 9.9%

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Page 1 of 27 – SEC Filing

SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
 
   
Washington,
D.C. 20549
 
_______________  
   
SCHEDULE
13D
 
INFORMATION
TO BE INCLUDED IN STATEMENTS FILED PURSUANT
TO RULE 13d-1(a) AND AMENDMENTS THERETO FILED PURSUANT TO
RULE 13d-2(a)
 
Under
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(Amendment
No. )*
 

Stewart
Information Services Corporation

(Name
of Issuer)
 

Common
Stock, par value $1.00 per share

(Title
of Class of Securities)
 

860372101

(CUSIP
Number)
 
JEFFREY
C. SMITH
STARBOARD
VALUE LP
777
Third Avenue, 18th Floor
New
York, New York 10017
(212)
845-7977
 
Eleazer
Klein, Esq.
Schulte
Roth & Zabel LLP
919
Third Avenue
New
York, New York 10022

(212)
756-2000

(Name,
Address and Telephone Number of Person
Authorized
to Receive Notices and Communications)
 

August
2, 2016

(Date
of Event which Requires
Filing
of this Schedule)

 

If the filing person has previously
filed a statement on Schedule 13G to report the acquisition that is the subject of this Schedule 13D, and is filing this schedule
because of Rule 13d-1(e), 13d-1(f) or 13d-1(g), check the following box. [ ]

NOTE: Schedules filed in paper
format shall include a signed original and five copies of the schedule, including all exhibits. See Rule 13d-7 for other parties
to whom copies are to be sent.

 

(Continued
on following pages)

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