Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.46 Per Share

Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.46 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This is an increase from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42.

Stifel Financial has increased its dividend payment by an average of 41.0% annually over the last three years. Stifel Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 18.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Stifel Financial to earn $7.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.5%.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SF traded up $2.43 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $117.64. The stock had a trading volume of 1,134,339 shares, compared to its average volume of 711,914. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $110.70 and its 200 day moving average is $99.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. Stifel Financial has a 52 week low of $71.36 and a 52 week high of $119.12. The stock has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.27 and a beta of 1.11.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.27. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.92%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Stifel Financial will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $130.00 to $128.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stifel Financial news, COO David D. Sliney sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.18, for a total value of $2,904,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 159,619 shares in the company, valued at $18,544,535.42. This represents a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.