Vanguard Group Inc. Has $1 Billion Stock Holdings in Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) by 2.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,620,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 217,415 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of Stifel Financial worth $1,001,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SF. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Stifel Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Stifel Financial during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Stifel Financial by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in Stifel Financial by 123.6% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Stifel Financial by 67.7% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Stifel Financial

In other Stifel Financial news, Director Michael J. Zimmerman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.69, for a total transaction of $966,900.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 45,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,431,592.77. This represents a 17.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Stifel Financial Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of SF opened at $111.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.82. Stifel Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $73.27 and a fifty-two week high of $120.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $105.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.68.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Stifel Financial’s payout ratio is presently 35.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Stifel Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 3rd. Citigroup raised shares of Stifel Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Stifel Financial from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $102.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.78.

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.