Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) Rating Increased to Hold at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on SF. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Stifel Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded Stifel Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $135.00 price target on Stifel Financial in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Stifel Financial from $102.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Stifel Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $116.30.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

SF stock opened at $111.29 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $113.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.93. Stifel Financial has a twelve month low of $73.27 and a twelve month high of $120.64. The firm has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57 and a beta of 1.13.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.06. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.90%.The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Stifel Financial will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stifel Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Stifel Financial by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,620,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,001,080,000 after purchasing an additional 217,415 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in Stifel Financial by 2,727.0% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,326,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $241,468,000 after purchasing an additional 2,243,961 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Stifel Financial by 0.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,797,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $186,578,000 after purchasing an additional 9,188 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Stifel Financial by 314.1% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,383,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Stifel Financial in the second quarter valued at about $143,377,000. Institutional investors own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

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.