Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Invests $849,000 in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 8,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $849,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Stifel Financial by 18.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,956,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $747,107,000 after buying an additional 1,256,595 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,122,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $293,188,000 after acquiring an additional 31,101 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in Stifel Financial by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,279,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $214,023,000 after acquiring an additional 33,953 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Stifel Financial by 78.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,958,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $183,923,000 after acquiring an additional 860,465 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,696,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $159,355,000 after purchasing an additional 20,110 shares in the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Stifel Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Stifel Financial from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities increased their target price on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.71.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of SF stock opened at $114.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.33 and a beta of 1.11. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 12-month low of $72.78 and a 12-month high of $120.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $110.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.60.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.27. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 14.00%. Equities research analysts predict that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 7.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is an increase from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stifel Financial

In other Stifel Financial news, COO David D. Sliney sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.18, for a total transaction of $2,904,500.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.57% of the stock is owned by company 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.