StockNews.com Lowers Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) to Hold

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

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on SF. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Stifel Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $101.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Stifel Financial from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.67.

Stifel Financial Stock Up 1.1 %

SF stock opened at $94.41 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.46 and a beta of 1.09. Stifel Financial has a 52-week low of $54.81 and a 52-week high of $94.56. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.20.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. Stifel Financial had a return on equity of 13.24% and a net margin of 11.59%. Stifel Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Stifel Financial will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Stifel Financial in the first quarter valued at about $1,251,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Stifel Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,543,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Stifel Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $649,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Stifel Financial by 36.5% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 35,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,742,000 after purchasing an additional 9,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial by 268.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $688,000 after purchasing an additional 6,411 shares during the last quarter. 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.