Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 94.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 76,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,047 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC owned 0.07% of Stifel Financial worth $5,271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Stifel Financial in the third quarter worth $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 97.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 111.4% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the period. Quilter Plc bought a new position in Stifel Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $682,191,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 39.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Stifel Financial from $86.50 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Stifel Financial in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stifel Financial

In other Stifel Financial news, insider Victor Nesi sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $2,713,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 54,732 shares in the company, valued at $4,125,150.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Thomas B. Michaud sold 25,421 shares of Stifel Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $1,887,763.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 90,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,687,484.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Victor Nesi sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $2,713,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 54,732 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,125,150.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.52% of the company’s stock.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SF opened at $75.31 on Friday. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $54.81 and a 1 year high of $78.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50-day moving average is $75.77 and its 200 day moving average is $68.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 12.32% and a net margin of 11.60%. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.42 dividend. This is an increase from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 39.25%.

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.