HighTower Advisors LLC Buys 7,209 Shares of Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) by 82.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,209 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $1,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 2,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 28,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,040,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 67.7% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $523,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Stifel Financial from $102.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup raised Stifel Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities increased their target price on Stifel Financial from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen raised Stifel Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $135.00 price target on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.78.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

Shares of SF opened at $114.2180 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.14 and a beta of 1.11. Stifel Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $73.27 and a twelve month high of $120.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $108.47 and a 200-day moving average of $99.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.66%.

Insider Activity at Stifel Financial

In other news, Director Michael J. Zimmerman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.69, for a total value of $966,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 45,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,431,592.77. This represents a 17.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 7 shares of company stock valued at $781. Corporate insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

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.