Arizona State Retirement System Cuts Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Arizona State Retirement System reduced its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,606 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $3,507,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 46,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,892,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486 shares in the last quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,718,000. Entropy Technologies LP boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 74.9% during the third quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 24,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,477,000 after purchasing an additional 10,279 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $332,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 45.5% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 89,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,515,000 after purchasing an additional 28,011 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $56.24 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.87 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.64. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.72 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 53.69%.

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.