Boston Partners Purchases 65,425 Shares of Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

Key Points

• Boston Partners increased its stake in Stifel Financial Corporation by 388% in Q1, owning 82,288 shares valued at approximately $7.75 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Allworth Financial and MassMutual, have also raised their holdings in Stifel Financial during the same quarter, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Several analysts have upgraded Stifel Financial's stock ratings and price targets, with Wells Fargo raising its target from $102 to $125, reflecting positive sentiment in the market.

Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF - Free Report) by 388.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,288 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 65,425 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned approximately 0.08% of Stifel Financial worth $7,753,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SF. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,562,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $2,431,000 after purchasing an additional 7,100 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 321 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 55.4% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 5,883 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $624,000 after purchasing an additional 2,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 114,044 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,096,000 after purchasing an additional 6,647 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on SF shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $102.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Stifel Financial from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $115.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $135.00 target price on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Stifel Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $115.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Stifel Financial

In other news, Director Michael J. Zimmerman sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.69, for a total value of $966,900.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 45,833 shares in the company, valued at $4,431,592.77. The trade was a 17.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 4.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

SF stock traded down $1.8480 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $110.8920. The company had a trading volume of 271,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 791,978. The company has a market capitalization of $11.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.42 and a beta of 1.11. Stifel Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $73.27 and a 12-month 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. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $107.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.74.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.25 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.60 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Stifel Financial's payout ratio is 35.66%.

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.