New York State Common Retirement Fund Increases Holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 690,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,428 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.68% of Stifel Financial worth $47,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Stifel Financial during the third quarter worth about $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 97.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Stifel Financial by 39.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Stifel Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Stifel Financial by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stifel Financial news, SVP Thomas B. Michaud sold 25,421 shares of Stifel Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $1,887,763.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 90,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,687,484.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Victor Nesi sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $2,713,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 54,732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,125,150.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Thomas B. Michaud sold 25,421 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $1,887,763.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 90,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,687,484.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.52% of the company’s stock.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of SF stock opened at $78.28 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $54.81 and a 1-year high of $79.23. The firm has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 1.18.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.19. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 11.60% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 7.04 EPS for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.42 dividend. This is a positive change from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Financial’s payout ratio is currently 39.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on SF shares. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Stifel Financial from $86.50 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.50.

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.