Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $100.00 and last traded at $99.95, with a volume of 39515 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $98.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SF shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $101.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com lowered Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wolfe Research downgraded Stifel Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Citigroup raised their price target on Stifel Financial from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price objective 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $96.67.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

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 firm has a market cap of $10.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.42 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.62.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.06. The company 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%. Stifel Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 3.9% in 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 last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Stifel Financial by 929.9% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 296,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,957,000 after purchasing an additional 267,777 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,932,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $229,199,000 after purchasing an additional 191,896 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Stifel Financial by 12.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,332,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,143,000 after buying an additional 151,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $7,415,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

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.