Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) Declares $0.42 Quarterly Dividend

Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 8th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.42 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, June 17th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd.

Stifel Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 47.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 8 consecutive years. Stifel Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 21.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Stifel Financial to earn $8.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.6%.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of SF traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $83.52. 598,360 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 623,211. The stock's 50-day moving average is $76.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.77. Stifel Financial has a 12 month low of $54.81 and a 12 month high of $84.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $8.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 1.14.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Stifel Financial will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Stifel Financial news, Director David A. Peacock sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total transaction of $1,038,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,489,815.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director David A. Peacock sold 13,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total transaction of $1,038,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,489,815.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Victor Nesi sold 36,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $2,713,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 54,732 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,125,150.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 74,421 shares of company stock worth $5,639,783. Insiders own 3.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SF has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com cut Stifel Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen increased their target price on Stifel Financial from $86.50 to $92.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.50.

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.