Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,402,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,213 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.10% of Stifel Financial worth $1,103,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 57,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,400,000 after acquiring an additional 11,960 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Stifel Financial during the 4th quarter worth $2,588,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $250,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Stifel Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,776,000. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd acquired a new position in Stifel Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,032,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Stifel Financial from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Stifel Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Stifel Financial from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.71.

Stifel Financial Trading Down 3.2 %

SF opened at $93.92 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $105.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $73.51 and a 12 month high of $120.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.27. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 14.00% and a return on equity of 16.59%. Sell-side analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is a boost from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Financial’s payout ratio is 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.