Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) is Earnest Partners LLC's 9th Largest Position

Earnest Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF - Free Report) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,948,476 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 24,119 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial comprises 1.4% of Earnest Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Earnest Partners LLC owned approximately 2.88% of Stifel Financial worth $312,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its holdings in Stifel Financial by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 7,541 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $800,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew 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 last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 0.5% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Stifel Financial from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $108.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Stifel Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Stifel Financial from $121.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $105.50.

Stifel Financial Trading Down 0.0 %

Stifel Financial stock opened at $85.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $93.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.92. Stifel Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $73.27 and a 1 year high of $120.64. The stock has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 1.00.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.61 by ($1.12). Stifel Financial had a net margin of 14.00% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.49 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.46 dividend. This is a positive change from Stifel Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Financial's dividend payout ratio is 35.18%.

About Stifel Financial

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.

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