Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) Stock

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by research analysts at Citigroup from $94.00 to $115.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Citigroup's price objective indicates a potential upside of 6.94% from the company's current price.

SF has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Stifel Financial from $121.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut Stifel Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Stifel Financial from $123.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. JMP Securities lowered their target price on Stifel Financial from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on Stifel Financial from $124.00 to $84.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $106.75.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

SF traded down $1.66 on Monday, hitting $107.54. 327,673 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 685,433. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $96.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.41. The firm has a market cap of $11.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56 and a beta of 1.09. Stifel Financial has a one year low of $73.27 and a one year high of $120.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($1.15). The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 12.26%. The business's revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Stifel Financial will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Stifel Financial

In related news, Director Michael J. Zimmerman sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.69, for a total value of $966,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 45,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,431,592.77. This represents a 17.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 4.57% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Stifel Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SF. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $137,448,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 314.1% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,383,836 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $126,925,000 after buying an additional 1,049,665 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,628,832 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $915,346,000 after purchasing an additional 672,420 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,588,964 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $274,637,000 after purchasing an additional 630,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 47,124.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 425,018 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $40,062,000 after purchasing an additional 424,118 shares in the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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