Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $117.71.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on 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 lifted their price target on Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on Stifel Financial from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Stifel Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $137,448,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 18.8% in 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. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 78.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,958,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $183,923,000 after purchasing an additional 860,465 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 477.9% in the 4th quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 238,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,347,000 after purchasing an additional 197,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,207,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $128,088,000 after purchasing an additional 186,352 shares during the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

SF opened at $103.37 on Tuesday. Stifel Financial has a 12-month low of $72.78 and a 12-month high of $120.64. The stock has a market cap of $10.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $109.73 and a 200-day moving average of $103.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.27. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 14.00%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Stifel Financial will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. Stifel Financial’s payout ratio is currently 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.