HighTower Advisors LLC Buys 7,209 Shares of Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Stifel Financial Corporation by 82.1%, acquiring an additional 7,209 shares, bringing its total holdings to 15,986 shares valued at $1,507,000.
• Several analysts have upgraded Stifel Financial's stock ratings and target prices, with Wells Fargo raising its target from $102 to $125 and Citigroup elevating its rating to "buy" with a new target of $135.
• Stifel Financial announced a quarterly dividend of $0.46, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.6% and a payout ratio of 35.66%.

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF - Free Report) by 82.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,986 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,209 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $1,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Trillium Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 82,359 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,764,000 after acquiring an additional 9,441 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Stifel Financial during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,564,000. Virtu Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 44.5% during the 1st quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 3,403 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP grew its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 171.8% during the 1st quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 25,371 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,391,000 after acquiring an additional 16,037 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,211,580 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $114,204,000 after acquiring an additional 4,115 shares during the period. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael J. Zimmerman sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.69, for a total value of $966,900.00. Following the transaction, the director 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 7 shares of company stock worth $781. Corporate insiders own 3.28% of the company's stock.

Stifel Financial Price Performance

Stifel Financial stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $116.37. 544,682 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 790,661. The company's fifty day moving average is $109.61 and its 200-day moving average is $99.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $11.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.55 and a beta of 1.11. Stifel Financial Corporation has a 52 week low of $73.27 and a 52 week high of $120.64.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 13.93%. Stifel Financial's revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

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