New York State Common Retirement Fund Raises Stock Holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 690,928 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 20,428 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.68% of Stifel Financial worth $47,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SF. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial during the third quarter worth about $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 97.5% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 39.3% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 730 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Stifel Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Stifel Financial by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Stifel Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Stifel Financial from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. TD Cowen increased their price target 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, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $84.50.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Stifel Financial stock traded up $0.23 on Thursday, reaching $78.51. 687,280 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 550,867. The company has a 50 day moving average of $75.90 and a 200 day moving average of $69.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 52 week low of $54.81 and a 52 week high of $79.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.07 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 1.18.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.14 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 11.60% and a return on equity of 12.32%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 7.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. This is a boost from Stifel Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Financial's payout ratio is presently 39.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Thomas B. Michaud sold 25,421 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $1,887,763.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 90,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,687,484.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Thomas B. Michaud sold 25,421 shares of Stifel Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $1,887,763.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 90,055 shares in the company, valued at $6,687,484.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Victor Nesi sold 36,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $2,713,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 54,732 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,125,150.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.