Retirement Systems of Alabama Increases Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 498,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.24% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $27,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,126,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,627,000 after buying an additional 1,184,822 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $58,972,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 13.7% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,808,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $364,723,000 after acquiring an additional 819,594 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 9.0% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,990,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,374,000 after acquiring an additional 578,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter valued at $21,893,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $53.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.21 and a beta of 1.51. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.89.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 7.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Capital One Financial set a $55.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $74.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.83.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.