Versant Capital Management Inc Increases Stake in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 46.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $48,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SF. Waldron Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the third quarter valued at $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Stifel Financial by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 36.6% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 148.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Institutional investors own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO David D. Sliney sold 25,000 shares of Stifel Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.18, for a total value of $2,904,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 159,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,544,535.42. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on SF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Stifel Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Stifel Financial from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Stifel Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.57.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SF opened at $108.47 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $110.55 and its 200 day moving average is $96.07. The stock has a market cap of $11.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.11. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $68.09 and a 1-year high of $119.12. 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 (NYSE:SF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.60 by ($0.10). Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 14.92% and a net margin of 12.98%. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 6.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Stifel Financial 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.