Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys Shares of 124,288 Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 124,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,672,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Stifel Financial by 51.9% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 623,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,467,000 after acquiring an additional 212,819 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 175,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,267,000 after acquiring an additional 28,137 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 36.9% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 111,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,796,000 after acquiring an additional 29,981 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Stifel Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,379,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the second quarter worth about $571,000. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SF shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on shares of Stifel Financial in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Stifel Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stifel Financial news, Director Maryam S. Brown sold 4,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.20, for a total value of $372,240.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $453,736.80. This trade represents a 45.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Shares of SF opened at $81.31 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $78.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.25. Stifel Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $67.81 and a 12-month high of $89.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.28 billion, a PE ratio of 14.55 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 16.11% and a return on equity of 19.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 6.36 EPS for the current year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 24.33%.

About Stifel Financial

Stifel Financial Corp. is a diversified financial services holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1890, the firm has grown into a full‐service brokerage and investment banking organization serving individual investors, corporations and institutions. Through its principal subsidiary, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, the company delivers a broad array of financial products and services backed by research‐driven insights.

The firm’s main business activities are organized into two core segments: Private Client Group and Institutional Group.