Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys Shares of 176,735 Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 176,735 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,866,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.21% of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SBCF. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 12,208 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its stake in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,011,523 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $55,377,000 after purchasing an additional 14,536 shares in the last quarter. Element Pointe Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 114.9% during the fourth quarter. Element Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 48,650 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,339,000 after purchasing an additional 26,011 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,087 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida during the fourth quarter worth $212,000. 81.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SBCF has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (up previously from $29.00) on shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $29.40.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Stock Performance

Shares of SBCF traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $25.84. 443,016 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 421,918. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida has a fifty-two week low of $21.36 and a fifty-two week high of $31.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.89. The business's 50 day moving average is $24.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $140.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $138.41 million. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida had a return on equity of 5.91% and a net margin of 14.95%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.32%.

Seacoast Banking Co. of Florida Profile

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of integrated financial services. It provides banking and investment services to businesses and consumers, including personal and business deposit products, Internet and mobile banking, personal, commercial and mortgage loans, wealth management services, and treasury management solutions.