The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Lowers Holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 87,591 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,299 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.09% of Stifel Financial worth $7,371,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,461,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $817,794,000 after buying an additional 391,384 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Stifel Financial by 929.9% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 296,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,957,000 after acquiring an additional 267,777 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Stifel Financial by 7.0% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,932,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $229,199,000 after acquiring an additional 191,896 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Stifel Financial by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,332,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,143,000 after acquiring an additional 151,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $7,415,000. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Stifel Financial in a research report on Monday, September 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Wolfe Research downgraded Stifel Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $101.00 price objective on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.67.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Stifel Financial stock opened at $95.85 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.58. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $54.81 and a 12 month high of $96.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.78 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

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

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.18%.

Stifel Financial Company 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.