Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 28,475 Shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,006,574 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 28,475 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.98% of Stifel Financial worth $94,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SF. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,956,412 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $747,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256,595 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Stifel Financial by 78.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,958,709 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $183,923,000 after buying an additional 860,465 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Stifel Financial by 929.9% during the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 296,574 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $24,957,000 after buying an additional 267,777 shares in the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Stifel Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $12,290,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,415,000. Institutional investors own 82.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on SF shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Stifel Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Stifel Financial in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $105.57.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of Stifel Financial stock traded up $2.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $104.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,132,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 575,308. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 52-week low of $66.64 and a 52-week high of $119.12. The firm's 50-day moving average is $109.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.84. The company has a market cap of $10.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90 and a beta of 1.08.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.60 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.20 billion. Stifel Financial had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.92%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 6.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. Stifel Financial's payout ratio is 30.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Stifel Financial news, COO David D. Sliney sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.18, for a total transaction of $2,904,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 159,619 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,544,535.42. This represents a 13.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 4.57% of the company's stock.

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.