Bank of Nova Scotia Increases Stock Position in Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) by 366.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 341,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 268,556 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $25,270,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on SF. UBS Group set a $90.00 price target on shares of Stifel Financial in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research raised shares of Stifel Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Stifel Financial in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.67.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Shares of SF opened at $80.70 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Stifel Financial Corporation has a 52 week low of $67.81 and a 52 week high of $89.83. The stock has a market cap of $12.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44 and a beta of 1.01.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 19.32% and a net margin of 16.11%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.71 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 6.29 EPS for the current year.

Stifel Financial Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.33%.

Stifel Financial Company 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.