Prudential Financial Inc. Cuts Position in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 41.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 16,508 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $2,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Stifel Financial by 46.5% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Stifel Financial by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in Stifel Financial by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 78.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on SF. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $121.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities raised their price target on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Stifel Financial from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.86.

Stifel Financial Trading Down 10.9 %

Shares of Stifel Financial stock opened at $86.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $73.51 and a 1 year high of $120.64. The firm has a market cap of $8.92 billion, a PE ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.21.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. 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.