BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. Acquires New Stake in Stifel Financial Corporation $SF

BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. acquired a new stake in Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 48,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,011,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 13.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,451,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $391,674,000 after acquiring an additional 419,038 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 2.0% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,371,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $269,128,000 after acquiring an additional 45,631 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,844,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $231,034,000 after acquiring an additional 17,008 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 26.8% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,485,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,560,000 after acquiring an additional 314,031 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Stifel Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $172,446,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SF shares. Zacks Research raised Stifel Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Friday. UBS Group reduced their target price on Stifel Financial from $100.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Stifel Financial from $136.00 to $92.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.15.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:SF opened at $69.39 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.50 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Stifel Financial Corporation has a 52-week low of $61.57 and a 52-week high of $89.83. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.29.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.06. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 15.34% and a return on equity of 18.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corporation will post 6.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Stifel Financial’s payout ratio is presently 26.46%.

Stifel Financial Company Profile

Stifel Financial Corp. is a diversified financial services holding company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1890, the firm has grown into a full?service brokerage and investment banking organization serving individual investors, corporations and institutions. Through its principal subsidiary, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, the company delivers a broad array of financial products and services backed by research?driven insights.

The firm’s main business activities are organized into two core segments: Private Client Group and Institutional Group.