StockNews.com Upgrades Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) to Buy

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on SF. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Stifel Financial in a research report on Monday, September 9th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Stifel Financial in a research note on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $101.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Stifel Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.40.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of SF opened at $85.79 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.62. The company has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Stifel Financial has a twelve month low of $54.81 and a twelve month high of $90.00.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.06. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 11.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Stifel Financial will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in Stifel Financial by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 22,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,558,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 0.8% during the second quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 22,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,917,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in Stifel Financial by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 37,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,611,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Stifel Financial by 2.9% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 10,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $851,000 after buying an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 1,818.8% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

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.