Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) Shares Sold by Hilltop National Bank

Hilltop National Bank reduced its stake in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,956,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $747,107,000 after buying an additional 1,256,595 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 78.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,958,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $183,923,000 after buying an additional 860,465 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $12,290,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stifel Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,415,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,464,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $137,509,000 after buying an additional 65,113 shares during the period. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO David D. Sliney sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 159,619 shares in the company, valued at $18,544,535.42. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

Stifel Financial Stock Down 4.0 %

SF stock opened at $104.14 on Friday. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 52 week low of $68.09 and a 52 week high of $119.12. The company has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $110.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.43. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by ($0.10). Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 14.92% and a net margin of 12.98%. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 6.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Stifel Financial’s payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $113.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Stifel Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.43.

About Stifel Financial

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.