LSV Asset Management Reduces Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

LSV Asset Management decreased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 96.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 468,300 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 48.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 3,577.8% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $53.64 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.28 and a 12-month high of $72.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The company has a market cap of $11.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.07.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.13. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. Jefferies Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on JEF shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $78.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.71.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.