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

Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)’s share price reached 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 traded. The stock had previously closed at $95.02.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research cut shares of Stifel Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com cut Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities raised their price target on Stifel Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. 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, Stifel Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Stifel Financial Trading Down 0.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.79 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $87.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.09.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.06. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. Stifel Financial’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.