Grant Private Wealth Management Inc Invests $281,000 in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Grant Private Wealth Management Inc bought a new stake in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Stifel Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $137,448,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Stifel Financial by 78.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,958,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $183,923,000 after purchasing an additional 860,465 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $162,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $11,936,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 299,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,746,000 after buying an additional 93,341 shares during the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SF. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped 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. Citigroup dropped their price target on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Stifel Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $116.29.

Stifel Financial Stock Up 1.8 %

Stifel Financial stock opened at $96.51 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $104.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.34. Stifel Financial Corp. has a twelve month low of $73.51 and a twelve month high of $120.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.47 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.46 dividend. This is an increase from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Stifel Financial’s 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.