Private Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Private Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 516,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 66,005 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group accounts for 4.2% of Private Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Private Capital Management LLC owned 0.25% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $40,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $469,518,000 after acquiring an additional 3,677,233 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $421,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,094,191 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $415,031,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $309,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF stock opened at $54.19 on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.28 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $50.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.57. The stock has a market cap of $11.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 1.47.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

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.