Castleark Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

Castleark Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 98,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,852,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Stifel Financial by 430.4% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 73,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,470,000 after purchasing an additional 60,042 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,824,000 after buying an additional 12,727 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,031,197,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 56.3% in the 1st quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 134,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,917,000 after buying an additional 48,346 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Stifel Financial by 43.0% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 143,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,578,000 after acquiring an additional 43,036 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

SF stock opened at $79.72 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.27 and a beta of 0.99. Stifel Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $67.81 and a fifty-two week high of $89.83.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.09. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 16.11% and a return on equity of 19.22%. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.33%.

Insider Activity at Stifel Financial

In related news, Director Maryam S. Brown sold 4,700 shares of Stifel Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.20, for a total transaction of $372,240.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,729 shares in the company, valued at $453,736.80. This trade represents a 45.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.36% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on SF shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 9th. UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Stifel Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.90.

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.