Short Interest in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) Rises By 20.4%

Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,300,000 shares, an increase of 20.4% from the March 15th total of 1,910,000 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 849,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Stifel Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $137,448,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,628,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $915,346,000 after buying an additional 672,420 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,588,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,637,000 after buying an additional 630,255 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 47,124.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 425,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,062,000 after acquiring an additional 424,118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC lifted its position in Stifel Financial by 477.9% during the fourth quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 238,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,347,000 after acquiring an additional 197,598 shares during the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Stifel Financial from $124.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com raised Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Stifel Financial from $135.00 to $106.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $121.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.71.

Stifel Financial Stock Up 3.3 %

NYSE:SF opened at $85.82 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $8.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.75 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $94.76 and a 200 day moving average of $104.15. Stifel Financial has a 1-year low of $73.27 and a 1-year high of $120.64.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.27. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 14.00% and a return on equity of 16.59%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Stifel Financial will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.49%.

Stifel Financial Company 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.