Morningstar Investment Management LLC Invests $766,000 in Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

Morningstar Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 10,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $766,000.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Stifel Financial Price Performance

NYSE:SF opened at $80.70 on Monday. Stifel Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $67.81 and a 52-week high of $89.83. The company has a market cap of $12.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.44 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.75.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 6.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.33%.

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.