Short Interest in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) Grows By 20.4%

Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,300,000 shares, a growth of 20.4% from the March 15th total of 1,910,000 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 849,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Stifel Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 7,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $800,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 28,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,040,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SF. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Stifel Financial from $135.00 to $106.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $121.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $124.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JMP Securities cut their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Stifel Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.71.

Stifel Financial Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of SF stock opened at $85.13 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.37. The stock has a market cap of $8.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64 and a beta of 1.00. Stifel Financial has a 12 month low of $73.27 and a 12 month high of $120.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Stifel Financial will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. This is a positive change from Stifel Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.49%.

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.