Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) Shares Purchased by Clark Capital Management Group Inc.

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its stake in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $1,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SF. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,628,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $915,346,000 after purchasing an additional 672,420 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Stifel Financial by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,588,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $274,637,000 after acquiring an additional 630,255 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,540,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $163,425,000 after buying an additional 76,163 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $137,448,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,207,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $128,088,000 after buying an additional 186,352 shares during the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Shares of SF stock opened at $91.39 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. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $73.27 and a 1-year high of $120.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.10. The company has a market capitalization of $9.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.65 and a beta of 1.07.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($1.15). The company had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 14.00%. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.49 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 35.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SF. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JMP Securities cut their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Stifel Financial from $123.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $124.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Stifel Financial from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.50.

Stifel Financial Company 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.