Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Lowers Holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its position in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 165,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,018 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.16% of Stifel Financial worth $17,588,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 18.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,956,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $747,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256,595 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,122,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $293,188,000 after purchasing an additional 31,101 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Stifel Financial by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,279,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $214,023,000 after purchasing an additional 33,953 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 78.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,958,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $183,923,000 after buying an additional 860,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,696,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $159,355,000 after buying an additional 20,110 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Stifel Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Stifel Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.71.

Stifel Financial Stock Down 3.2 %

SF stock opened at $93.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.97. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $73.51 and a 12 month high of $120.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.05 and a beta of 1.08.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.27. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 14.00%. Equities analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.49%.

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.