Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Increases Holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $1,161,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SF. Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Stifel Financial by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 4,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Stifel Financial by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $931,000 after buying an additional 843 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Stifel Financial by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 163,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,374,000 after buying an additional 3,585 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Stifel Financial by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 18,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after buying an additional 1,274 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Stifel Financial by 64,142.9% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 4,490 shares during the period. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on SF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Stifel Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. 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 research note 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 research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Stifel Financial from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Stifel Financial from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.71.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 2.5 %

NYSE SF opened at $98.67 on Thursday. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $73.51 and a 1-year high of $120.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $107.06 and a 200-day moving average of $104.45. The firm has a market cap of $10.24 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81 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, 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Stifel Financial’s payout ratio is 29.49%.

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.