V Square Quantitative Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 18.8% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 78.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 860,465 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $12,290,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,464,421 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $137,509,000 after acquiring an additional 65,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 316.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 69,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,400,000 after acquiring an additional 52,991 shares during the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Stifel Financial stock opened at $110.50 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $109.99 and a 200 day moving average of $101.99. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $72.78 and a 12 month high of $120.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. This is a boost from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SF. UBS Group raised their target price on Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Stifel Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Stifel Financial from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Stifel Financial from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.71.

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.