Boston Partners Sells 14,957 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Boston Partners trimmed its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF – Free Report) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 150,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,957 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $11,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of JEF. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $286,476,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,905,000 after buying an additional 490,389 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,122,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 780,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,063,000 after buying an additional 381,893 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $59.11 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $68.29 and a 200-day moving average of $69.35. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $40.72 and a one year high of $82.68. The stock has a market cap of $12.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.84 and a beta of 1.37. 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 – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

View Our Latest Stock Report on JEF

About Jefferies Financial Group

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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