Great Lakes Advisors LLC Takes Position in Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 41,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,904,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Stifel Financial by 430.4% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 49.9% during 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 last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 56.3% during 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 last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 43.0% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 143,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,578,000 after buying an additional 43,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, North Reef Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,230,000. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Maryam S. Brown sold 4,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.20, for a total transaction of $372,240.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $453,736.80. The trade was a 45.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SF has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Stifel Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Stifel Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.90.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Shares of SF opened at $79.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Stifel Financial Corporation has a one year low of $67.81 and a one year high of $89.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $78.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.44.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 16.11% and a return on equity of 19.22%. 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 company earned $1.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.33%.

Stifel Financial Company Profile

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.