Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. TD Cowen reissued a hold rating and set a $89.00 target price (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Monday. Citigroup increased their target price on Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a market outperform rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $83.75.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

NYSE SF opened at $84.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17 and a beta of 1.11. Stifel Financial has a twelve month low of $54.81 and a twelve month high of $85.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $81.33 and a 200 day moving average of $76.82.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 12.40% and a net margin of 11.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Stifel Financial will post 7.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David A. Peacock sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total value of $1,038,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,646 shares in the company, valued at $1,489,815.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SF. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Stifel Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $84,369,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 worth $817,794,000 after acquiring an additional 391,384 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 7.0% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,932,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $229,199,000 after buying an additional 191,896 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stifel Financial during the fourth quarter worth $9,840,000. 82.01% of the stock is currently 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.