Fisher Asset Management LLC Increases Holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,464,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 65,113 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $137,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 4,308.9% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 5,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 5,300 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC boosted its position in Stifel Financial by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 92,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,703,000 after acquiring an additional 8,520 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $274,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 40,303 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,784,000 after acquiring an additional 7,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $12,290,000. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on SF. Citigroup lifted their target price on Stifel Financial from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Stifel Financial from $113.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.17.

Insider Activity at Stifel Financial

In related news, COO David D. Sliney sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.18, for a total transaction of $2,904,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 159,619 shares in the company, valued at $18,544,535.42. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Stifel Financial stock opened at $117.72 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $102.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29 and a beta of 1.08. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 12-month low of $60.17 and a 12-month high of $119.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.60 by ($0.10). Stifel Financial had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Stifel Financial’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 6.44 EPS for the current year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.38%.

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.