Female investors may be making progress, but they still lag behind men when it comes to having confidence in their investments, according to Scottrade’s 2016 “Financial Behavior Study,” released Friday.

While reported financial performance is relatively similar for men and women, men are nearly twice as likely as women to believe they are beating the current market (44 percent of men versus 24 percent of women), Scottrade says.

Women invest more conservatively, trade less often and let their advisor or broker handle more of the transactions, according to the survey of 1,015 investors.

“On the surface, the survey results seem to confirm some stereotypical ideas that women are overwhelmed by investing, but it’s worth noting that the women surveyed are also taking proactive steps to take control of their finances,” said Mary Koomar, Scottrade’s senior vice president of client services.

“Many of the women surveyed are seeking advice and building trusting relationships with advisors. While they may take a more moderate approach to investing, they are certainly not standing on the sidelines,” she said.

“Frequent portfolio changes can certainly be an effective part of a strategy, but it’s also important to remember that emotions can betray you when it comes to trading,” said Koomar. “Establishing and following a plan with clear rules is critical no matter your strategy.”

Women investors count on their advisors to handle a larger proportion of their portfolio and are more likely to cite their advisor as the motivation for making various investment choices, Scottrade says. At the same time, more men (29 percent) consult their advisors monthly than women (12 percent).

Women have a larger proportion of their portfolio (63 percent) handled through their broker or advisor, while men have their advisors handle half of their investments. This may be due to the fact that women report feeling more overwhelmed by the available investment choices (64 percent of women say they are versus 46 percent of men), and express less confidence in their own ability to navigate any impact from the economy (60 percent of women compared with 43 percent of men), Scottrade said.