Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Stake Decreased by Private Capital Management LLC

Private Capital Management LLC lessened its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 24.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 582,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 189,100 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group makes up about 7.2% of Private Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Private Capital Management LLC owned about 0.28% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $35,824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hemington Wealth Management raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $514,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 33,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,594,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF stock opened at $64.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.78 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $40.72 and a one year high of $82.68. The company’s 50-day moving average is $74.56 and its 200 day moving average is $69.29.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.69%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services.