Martingale Asset Management L P Makes New $292,000 Investment in Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

Key Points

• Martingale Asset Management L P has made a significant investment of approximately $292,000 in Stifel Financial Corporation, buying 3,098 shares during the first quarter of the year.
• Institutional ownership of Stifel Financial is high, with 82.01% of its stock held by institutional investors and hedge funds, signaling strong institutional confidence in the company.
• Analysts have a generally positive outlook on Stifel Financial, with upgrades to a "buy" rating from Citigroup and a target price increase to $135.00, reflecting positive sentiment in the market.

Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new position in shares of Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,098 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SF. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Stifel Financial by 47,124.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 425,018 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $40,062,000 after purchasing an additional 424,118 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Stifel Financial during the first quarter worth $28,564,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Stifel Financial by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,620,407 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,001,080,000 after purchasing an additional 217,415 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lifted its stake in Stifel Financial by 54.7% during the first quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 416,693 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,244,000 after purchasing an additional 147,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Stifel Financial by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,128,978 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $119,762,000 after purchasing an additional 145,902 shares in the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:SF opened at $115.31 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.78 billion, a PE ratio of 22.35 and a beta of 1.11. The business's fifty day moving average price is $108.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.63. 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 12 month low of $73.27 and a 12 month 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.90%.Stifel Financial's revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders acquired a total of 7 shares of company stock valued at $781 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.57% of the company's stock.

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.

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