First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Stock Position in Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) by 167.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 114,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 71,774 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $8,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 430.4% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 73,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,470,000 after buying an additional 60,042 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 56.3% in the 1st quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 134,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,917,000 after buying an additional 48,346 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 49.9% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 38,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,824,000 after buying an additional 12,727 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 146.7% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 63,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,900,000 after buying an additional 37,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd bought a new stake in Stifel Financial during the first quarter valued at about $2,244,000. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SF shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Stifel Financial from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on Stifel Financial in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research raised Stifel Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Friday, May 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.90.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

SF opened at $83.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average of $74.37 and a 200 day moving average of $76.67. Stifel Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $67.81 and a fifty-two week high of $89.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 16.11% and a return on equity of 19.32%. Stifel Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stifel Financial

In other news, Director Maryam S. Brown sold 4,700 shares of Stifel Financial stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.20, for a total value of $372,240.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $453,736.80. The trade was a 45.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Stifel Financial Profile

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.