Axiom Investors LLC DE Sells 76,849 Shares of Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

Key Points

• Axiom Investors LLC reduced its stake in Stifel Financial Corporation by 35.3%, now holding approximately 140,718 shares valued at $13.26 million.
• Several large investors have recently acquired stakes in Stifel Financial, with notable purchases including Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. and Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc..
• Stifel Financial reported a 5.4% year-over-year revenue increase, with earnings per share of $1.71 for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations.

Axiom Investors LLC DE decreased its position in shares of Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF - Free Report) by 35.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 140,718 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 76,849 shares during the period. Axiom Investors LLC DE owned approximately 0.14% of Stifel Financial worth $13,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Stifel Financial during the first quarter valued at about $361,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Stifel Financial during the first quarter valued at about $1,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 401.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,509 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 3,609 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 3.0% during the first quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,328 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whitener Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Stifel Financial during the first quarter valued at about $436,000. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SF. Stifel Nicolaus set a $135.00 price objective on Stifel Financial in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Stifel Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 3rd. Citigroup raised Stifel Financial from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities raised their target price on Stifel Financial from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Stifel Financial from $102.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Stifel Financial presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $115.78.

Stifel Financial Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE SF traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $116.37. The stock had a trading volume of 544,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 790,657. Stifel Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $73.27 and a 1 year high of $120.64. The stock has a market cap of $11.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.55 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $109.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.86. 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 (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.06. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Stifel Financial

In other news, Director Michael J. Zimmerman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.69, for a total transaction of $966,900.00. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 7 shares of company stock worth $781. 3.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Stifel Financial Company Profile

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.