AGF Management Ltd. Reduces Position in Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF)

Key Points

• AGF Management Ltd. reduced its stake in Stifel Financial Corporation by 31.1%, now holding 112,829 shares valued at approximately $10.64 million.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share, representing a 1.7% yield and a payout ratio of 35.66%.
• Stifel Financial's stock has received several upgrades from analysts, with target prices reaching as high as $135.00 from various firms.

AGF Management Ltd. lowered its position in Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF - Free Report) by 31.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 112,829 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 50,952 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd. owned about 0.11% of Stifel Financial worth $10,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SF. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 14,722 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,562,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 58,425 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,198,000 after acquiring an additional 3,562 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 44.9% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 22,915 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,431,000 after acquiring an additional 7,100 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 321 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 43,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,631,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.01% of the company's stock.

Stifel Financial Stock Down 0.4%

SF traded down $0.45 on Thursday, hitting $115.79. The company had a trading volume of 697,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 798,527. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Stifel Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $73.27 and a 52-week high of $120.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.44 and a beta of 1.11.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.06. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. Stifel Financial's quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 8.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Stifel Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stifel Financial

In related news, Director Michael J. Zimmerman sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.69, for a total transaction of $966,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 45,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,431,592.77. This trade represents a 17.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on SF shares. JMP Securities increased their target price on Stifel Financial from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup raised Stifel Financial from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $135.00 price objective on Stifel Financial in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Stifel Financial from $102.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Stifel Financial from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $108.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $115.78.

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.