Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) Stock Rating Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Thursday, Zacks reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Stifel Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Stifel Financial in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Stifel Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.71.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SF opened at $66.69 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.01. Stifel Financial has a fifty-two week low of $65.40 and a fifty-two week high of $89.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.45 billion. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 16.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Stifel Financial will post 6.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Stifel Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,031,197,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 51.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,616,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $193,403,000 after purchasing an additional 890,810 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 58.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,875,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $138,637,000 after purchasing an additional 693,437 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 40.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,367,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $101,084,000 after purchasing an additional 394,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 48.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,075,067 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,469,000 after purchasing an additional 351,146 shares during the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stifel Financial Company Profile

Stifel Financial Corp. is a financial services holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its principal operating subsidiaries, including Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, the company provides wealth management, investment banking, securities brokerage and related financial services to individual investors, corporations, municipalities and institutional clients.

Its wealth management business offers investment advice, brokerage services, financial planning, banking and lending solutions, and access to a range of investment products.