Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 959,000 shares, a decline of 27.9% from the November 30th total of 1,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 582,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Stifel Financial Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of SF stock traded down $1.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $106.66. 330,031 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 572,093. The business’s fifty day moving average is $110.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.29 and a beta of 1.08. Stifel Financial has a 12-month low of $67.61 and a 12-month high of $119.12. 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 (NYSE:SF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.92%. Stifel Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Stifel Financial will post 6.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO David D. Sliney sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $2,904,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 159,619 shares in the company, valued at $18,544,535.42. This trade represents a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stifel Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SF. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,956,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $747,107,000 after buying an additional 1,256,595 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Stifel Financial by 78.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 860,465 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 929.9% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 296,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,957,000 after acquiring an additional 267,777 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $12,290,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stifel Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $7,415,000. 82.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on Stifel Financial from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Stifel Financial from $113.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.57.

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.