24,400 Shares in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) Acquired by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 24,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,588,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SF. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 18.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,956,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $747,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256,595 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Stifel Financial by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,122,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $293,188,000 after purchasing an additional 31,101 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Stifel Financial by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,279,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $214,023,000 after purchasing an additional 33,953 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 78.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,958,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $183,923,000 after purchasing an additional 860,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,696,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $159,355,000 after purchasing an additional 20,110 shares during the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SF has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Stifel Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their target price on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.71.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

SF opened at $99.04 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $106.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.28 billion, a PE ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 1.08. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 52 week low of $73.51 and a 52 week high of $120.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 29.49%.

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.