Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

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

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on SF. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Stifel Financial in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an overweight rating and a $101.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup raised their target price on Stifel Financial from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Stifel Financial from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $94.67.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:SF opened at $95.85 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a PE ratio of 21.78 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.63. Stifel Financial has a 52-week low of $54.81 and a 52-week high of $96.89.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 11.59% and a return on equity of 13.24%. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Stifel Financial will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.18%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stifel Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SF. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Stifel Financial by 3.9% during 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. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 929.9% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 296,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,957,000 after purchasing an additional 267,777 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,932,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $229,199,000 after purchasing an additional 191,896 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $104,143,000 after purchasing an additional 151,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Stifel Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $7,415,000. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by 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.