Sterling Capital Management LLC Acquires 2,097 Shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 55.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,883 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,097 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,628,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $915,346,000 after buying an additional 672,420 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Stifel Financial by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,588,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $274,637,000 after acquiring an additional 630,255 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,540,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,425,000 after acquiring an additional 76,163 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Stifel Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $137,448,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings 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 period. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SF shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Stifel Financial from $123.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $124.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JMP Securities cut their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.71.

Stifel Financial Stock Up 1.8 %

SF opened at $85.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $96.18 and a 200-day moving average of $104.29. Stifel Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $73.27 and a fifty-two week high of $120.64. The company has a market capitalization of $8.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 1.00.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last posted 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 net margin of 14.00% and a return on equity of 16.59%. On average, equities analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. This is an increase from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.