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

Key Points

• Axiom Investors LLC DE reduced its stake in Stifel Financial Corporation by 35.3%, now owning 140,718 shares worth approximately $13.3 million.
• Stifel Financial reported a net margin of 11.90% and a 5.4% year-over-year revenue increase of $1.28 billion in its latest earnings results.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share, to be paid on September 16th, offering an annualized yield of 1.6%.

Axiom Investors LLC DE lessened its stake in Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF - Free Report) by 35.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 140,718 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 76,849 shares during the quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE owned 0.14% of Stifel Financial worth $13,264,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SF shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $135.00 price objective on Stifel Financial in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Stifel Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, August 3rd. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Stifel Financial from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Zacks Research downgraded Stifel Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Stifel Financial from $102.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $115.78.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Stifel Financial stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $115.29. 858,559 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 630,044. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $112.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34 and a beta of 1.13. Stifel Financial Corporation has a one year low of $73.27 and a one year high of $120.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

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

Stifel Financial Announces Dividend

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

Stifel Financial 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.