Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) Given New $130.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) had its target price lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $113.00 to $130.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Stifel Financial from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Stifel Financial from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on Stifel Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.17.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

SF opened at $114.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Stifel Financial has a 1 year low of $60.17 and a 1 year high of $118.12. The firm has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.41.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.92%. Stifel Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Stifel Financial will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stifel Financial news, COO David D. Sliney sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.18, for a total value of $2,904,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 159,619 shares in the company, valued at $18,544,535.42. This represents a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Stifel Financial

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,696,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $159,355,000 after purchasing an additional 20,110 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 9.5% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 62.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 107,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,086,000 after purchasing an additional 41,171 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 40,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,762,000 after buying an additional 1,053 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 3.0% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 28,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,678,000 after buying an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.