Arizona State Retirement System Grows Stake in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 29,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $3,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 62.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 107,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,086,000 after buying an additional 41,171 shares in the last quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD bought a new stake in Stifel Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $2,759,000. Curi RMB Capital LLC lifted its stake in Stifel Financial by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 69,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,507,000 after purchasing an additional 9,396 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 4,308.9% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 5,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 5,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,956,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $747,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256,595 shares during the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on SF. StockNews.com upgraded Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Stifel Financial from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Stifel Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.71.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Stifel Financial stock opened at $96.45 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.46 and a beta of 1.08. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $72.78 and a 1-year high of $120.64. The company’s 50-day moving average is $109.00 and its 200 day moving average is $104.12.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.27. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 14.00%. Research analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.49%.

About Stifel Financial

Stifel Financial Corp., a financial services and bank holding company, provides retail and institutional wealth management, and investment banking services to individual investors, corporations, municipalities, and institutions in the United States and internationally. It operates in three segments: Global Wealth Management, Institutional Group, and Other.