Wells Fargo & Company MN Decreases Stake in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lowered its position in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 315,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,072 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.31% of Stifel Financial worth $33,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Stifel Financial by 46.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Stifel Financial by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in Stifel Financial by 84.3% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Stifel Financial by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Shares of SF opened at $80.24 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $99.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.68. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 52-week low of $73.27 and a 52-week high of $120.64. The firm has a market cap of $8.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.27. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 14.00%. Analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is a positive change from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SF has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Stifel Financial from $121.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. JMP Securities reduced their price target on Stifel Financial from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Stifel Financial from $124.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Stifel Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.57.

Stifel Financial 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.