Versant Capital Management Inc Grows Stake in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) by 46.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Stifel Financial were worth $48,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SF. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Stifel Financial in the third quarter valued at $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Stifel Financial by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Stifel Financial by 148.1% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 717 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in Stifel Financial in the second quarter worth about $217,000. Institutional investors own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

Stifel Financial Stock Performance

Shares of SF stock opened at $108.47 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.82. Stifel Financial Corp. has a one year low of $68.09 and a one year high of $119.12. The company’s 50-day moving average is $110.55 and its 200 day moving average is $96.07.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by ($0.10). Stifel Financial had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 6.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Stifel Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO David D. Sliney sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 159,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,544,535.42. The trade was a 13.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on SF. TD Cowen upped their target price on Stifel Financial from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Stifel Financial from $113.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Stifel Financial from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Stifel Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Stifel Financial in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.57.

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.