Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Buys 280,659 Shares of Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) by 42.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 934,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 280,659 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.92% of Stifel Financial worth $116,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SF. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $172,446,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $56,126,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,451,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $391,674,000 after purchasing an additional 419,038 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 206.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 563,419 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,931,000 after purchasing an additional 379,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,485,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,560,000 after purchasing an additional 314,031 shares during the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

Shares of SF stock opened at $70.32 on Tuesday. Stifel Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $62.90 and a 52-week high of $89.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.68 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $75.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.94.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 18.76% and a net margin of 15.34%.Stifel Financial’s revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 6.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Stifel Financial’s payout ratio is 26.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Stifel Financial from $100.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research raised Stifel Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Stifel Financial from $136.00 to $92.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.15.

About Stifel Financial

Stifel Financial Corp. is a diversified financial services holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1890, the firm has grown into a full‐service brokerage and investment banking organization serving individual investors, corporations and institutions. Through its principal subsidiary, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, the company delivers a broad array of financial products and services backed by research‐driven insights.

The firm’s main business activities are organized into two core segments: Private Client Group and Institutional Group.