Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Purchases 280,659 Shares of Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) by 42.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 934,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 280,659 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $116,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SF. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $172,446,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $56,126,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,451,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $391,674,000 after acquiring an additional 419,038 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 206.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 563,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,931,000 after acquiring an additional 379,817 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,485,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,560,000 after acquiring an additional 314,031 shares during the period. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stifel Financial Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of SF stock opened at $70.32 on Tuesday. Stifel Financial Corporation has a 1-year low of $62.90 and a 1-year high of $89.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $75.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $10.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.68 and a beta of 1.00.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.06. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 18.76% and a net margin of 15.34%.The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 6.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. Stifel Financial’s payout ratio is 26.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Friday, May 29th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Stifel Financial from $136.00 to $92.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on Stifel Financial from $100.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Stifel Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.15.

About Stifel Financial

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.