Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) Stake Cut by Fisher Asset Management LLC

Fisher Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,404,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 233,826 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned approximately 1.38% of Stifel Financial worth $97,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 187.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,220,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $136,445,000 after purchasing an additional 1,448,068 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 77.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,183,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,728,000 after purchasing an additional 518,163 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new position in Stifel Financial during the third quarter worth $28,559,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Stifel Financial by 86.8% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 492,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,256,000 after buying an additional 228,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the third quarter worth about $13,567,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SF shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $86.50 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.50.

Insider Activity at Stifel Financial

In other Stifel Financial news, SVP Thomas B. Michaud sold 25,421 shares of Stifel Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $1,887,763.46. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 90,055 shares in the company, valued at $6,687,484.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director David A. Peacock sold 13,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 18,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,489,815.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Thomas B. Michaud sold 25,421 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $1,887,763.46. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 90,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,687,484.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 74,421 shares of company stock worth $5,639,783. 3.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

Shares of Stifel Financial stock opened at $81.76 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $76.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.10. Stifel Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $54.81 and a fifty-two week high of $82.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $8.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.58 and a beta of 1.14.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last released its 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). Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 11.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 7.04 EPS for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This is a boost from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Stifel Financial’s payout ratio is currently 38.18%.

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.