Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) Reaches New 1-Year High at $78.34

Shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $78.34 and last traded at $78.21, with a volume of 296375 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $77.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Stifel Financial from $86.50 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.50.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $75.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.97. The company has a market capitalization of $8.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.19. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 11.60%. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.58 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This is a boost from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Stifel Financial’s payout ratio is 39.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stifel Financial news, SVP Thomas B. Michaud sold 25,421 shares of Stifel Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $1,887,763.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 90,055 shares in the company, valued at $6,687,484.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Stifel Financial news, SVP Thomas B. Michaud sold 25,421 shares of Stifel Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $1,887,763.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 90,055 shares in the company, valued at $6,687,484.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Victor Nesi sold 36,000 shares of Stifel Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $2,713,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 54,732 shares in the company, valued at $4,125,150.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Stifel Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the first quarter valued at about $4,591,000. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 2.5% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 25,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,961,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 24.1% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 145,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,375,000 after acquiring an additional 28,285 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Stifel Financial during the first quarter worth approximately $256,000. Finally, US Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Stifel Financial during the first quarter worth approximately $209,000. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Stifel Financial Company Profile

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.