Nomura Holdings Inc. Takes $1.44 Million Position in Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)

Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 13,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,441,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Stifel Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $611,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new stake in Stifel Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $891,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Stifel Financial by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 127,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,503,000 after acquiring an additional 19,699 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Stifel Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $10,522,000. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in Stifel Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,361,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on SF shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $116.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $125.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wolfe Research raised shares of Stifel Financial from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $123.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Stifel Financial from $121.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.50.

Stifel Financial Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE SF opened at $98.90 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.92. Stifel Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $73.27 and a fifty-two week high of $120.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.85 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Stifel Financial (NYSE:SF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($1.15). Stifel Financial had a net margin of 14.00% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Stifel Financial Corp. will post 8.26 EPS for the current year.

Stifel Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. Stifel Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.