Earnest Partners LLC Decreases Holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Earnest Partners LLC cut its holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,948,476 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 24,119 shares during the period. Stifel Financial makes up 1.4% of Earnest Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Earnest Partners LLC owned 2.88% of Stifel Financial worth $312,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 707 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its holdings in Stifel Financial by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 7,541 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Stifel Financial by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 321 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Stifel Financial by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 528 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 28,657 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,040,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on SF. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Stifel Financial from $106.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Stifel Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $123.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $105.50.

Stifel Financial Stock Up 3.8 %

Stifel Financial stock traded up $3.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $89.75. The company had a trading volume of 252,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 677,029. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $73.27 and a 12 month high of $120.64. The company has a market capitalization of $9.25 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $91.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($1.15). Stifel Financial had a net margin of 14.00% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.49 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.