Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) Sets New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $101.00 to $108.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Stifel Financial traded as high as $96.89 and last traded at $96.47, with a volume of 37831 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $95.02.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Stifel Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. JMP Securities increased their target price on Stifel Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stifel Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,461,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $817,794,000 after buying an additional 391,384 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 929.9% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 296,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,957,000 after purchasing an additional 267,777 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,932,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $229,199,000 after purchasing an additional 191,896 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,332,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,143,000 after purchasing an additional 151,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Stifel Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,415,000. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 1.7 %

The company has a market cap of $9.91 billion, a PE ratio of 21.97 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.06. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 11.59%. The company had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. Stifel Financial’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.18%.

Stifel Financial Company Profile

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.