Arizona State Retirement System Boosts Stock Holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $3,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,956,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $747,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256,595 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,122,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $293,188,000 after buying an additional 31,101 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in Stifel Financial by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,279,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $214,023,000 after buying an additional 33,953 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Stifel Financial by 78.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,958,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $183,923,000 after buying an additional 860,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Stifel Financial by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,696,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $159,355,000 after acquiring an additional 20,110 shares during the period. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SF has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Stifel Financial from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.71.

Stifel Financial Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:SF opened at $96.45 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.46 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $109.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.12. Stifel Financial Corp. has a one year low of $72.78 and a one year high of $120.64.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.27. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 14.00%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. This is an increase from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Stifel Financial’s 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.